King Dedede (SSBU)

King Dedede (, Dedede) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was confirmed as playable along with and the rest of the veterans on June 12th, 2018. King Dedede is classified as Fighter #39.

King Dedede's voice clips from Super Smash Bros. 4, where he was voiced by series creator Masahiro Sakurai, have been repurposed for Ultimate.

King Dedede is currently ranked 80th out of 82 on the current Ultimate tier list at the bottom of D+ tier, making him one of the lowest-ranking characters in the game. Despite Dedede's numerous buffs, this is similar to his exceptionally low placement in Smash 4 at 51st out of 54.

King Dedede has some of the best endurance out of any fighter on the roster. Dedede is tied with Donkey Kong as the third heaviest character in the game and has one of the best vertical recoveries due to Super Dedede Jump, allowing him to survive to extremely high percents. Dedede's primary strengths lie in his hammer and deadly ledge traps. King Dedede's hammer provides him with large, disjointed hitboxes on many of his moves, making him one of the few super-heavyweights that can reliably space his opponent. Dedede's hammer can also be quite powerful, as he boasts some of the strongest smash attacks and aerials in Ultimate. Furthermore, Dedede's Gordo Throw combined with his various tilts and smash attacks can make Dedede one of the most intimidating characters on the ledge. King Dedede's moves were largely buffed in power, frame data, and combo ability in their transition to Ultimate. The most significant buff to Dedede's overall moveset is that Inhale now serves as a reflector, allowing Dedede to better fight against projectile camping. Inhale can also be used in conjunction with his Gordos, giving him another way to use his sole projectile against his opponent.

Changes made to the engine in the transition from Smash 4 to Ultimate have benefited Dedede's limited combo potential and linear recovery. Universal reductions to landing lag made neutral aerial and up aerial better combo tools than in Smash 4. Changes made to jumpsquats and airdodging enhance Dedede's edgeguarding and his poor horizontal recovery options. While airdodging was severely nerfed in Ultimate, Dedede is mostly unaffected by these changes due to his multiple jumps and high vertical recovery.

However, King Dedede has severe flaws that overshadow most of his positive attributes, especially when in disadvantage. Dedede's awful mobility is the source of many of his problems, with him especially struggling in the air thanks to having the slowest air speed in the game. While Dedede's overall speed is better than in Smash 4, it's still a challenge for him to approach or retreat from his opponent. Like many super-heavyweights, King Dedede has a large hitbox and few escape options, making him highly susceptible to combos and juggling. While this can be somewhat dealt with through Dedede's incredibly fast falling speed, his super-heavyweight attributes only compound the issues his sluggishness presents. Dedede's atrocious air speed in combination with his fast fall speed leave him exceedingly vulnerable offstage, making it troublesome for Dedede to get back to stage safely. Despite the universal decrease in lag, the slow frame data associated with Dedede's moves make a majority of his moveset highly committal. Dedede's specials all leave him open to punishment. Inhale and Jet Hammer, despite their newfound uses, still have slow ending lag. Dedede has to be careful when using Gordo Throw, as Gordos can be reflected back by the opponent with any move that does 2% or higher, causing significant damage. Super Dedede Jump is best used if Dedede can connect with the ledge, as the move has exceptionally high ending lag on stage. All of this leads to Dedede having a surprisingly hard time taking off stocks, as his powerful finishers are unsafe, and his deadly set-ups are difficult to establish in neutral.

King Dedede's sheer amount of problems have left him with negative competitive reception. While Dedede was initially viewed as an upper mid tier, his weaknesses only became more apparent as the metagame progressed. Dedede also received notable nerfs to his Gordo hitboxes and shield break set-ups in subsequent balance patches, lowering his competitive standing even further. Though players such as Atomsk and ZAKI have seen some success with the character, many of Dedede's early mains have either dropped him or relegated him to a secondary. As such, King Dedede is seen as largely unviable.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: King Dedede must then be defeated on Fountain of Dreams (the Ω form is used in World of Light).
 * Play VS. matches, with King Dedede being the 30th character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in his unlock tree, being the 4th character unlocked after.
 * Have King Dedede join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
King Dedede is tied for the third heaviest character in the game alongside, making him a super heavyweight. King Dedede shares some typical attributes with other heavyweights, such as a high damage output, high KO potential, great endurance, quick falling and fast falling speeds (both tied for second and third fastest respectively), overall sluggish mobility, large size and a high susceptibility to combos. In addition to having an average initial dash and the thirtieth highest gravity, he has the twenty-eighth slowest walking speed, eleventh slowest dashing speed, the worst air speed in the game, and the fourth slowest air acceleration. To counteract these flaws, however, King Dedede is gifted with four midair jumps.

As a super-heavyweight, King Dedede has immense endurance, both vertically and horizontally. His massive weight makes him difficult to launch, and his incredibly fast falling speed lets him return to the ground quickly. Despite having the worst air mobility, his four midair jumps and Super Dedede Jump, the latter of which travels a very long vertical distance and has super armor during its ascent and descent, gives him great recovery for a heavyweight. Super Dedede Jump also has a meteor smash hitbox during its descent, making it risky to intercept if he recovers high. His tech rolls are unusually long-distanced for a character of his size, making him difficult to tech-chase. Finally, King Dedede's trademark hammer grants him a long disjoint in many of his attacks, allowing him to safely space his opponents, especially if they are slow and have worse range than him.

True to a super heavyweight character, King Dedede is gifted with an abundance of finishers. King Dedede's dash attack is a notable example, as it deals huge damage, and reliably KOs under 100%, while being able to KO as low as below 60% near the ledge. King Dedede's smash attacks all possess great power, great disjointed range, and transcendent priority, while having their own perks: forward smash can reliably KO from 60% and below in most situations, has deceptively short ending lag for an attack of its power, while also being able to deal severe shield damage; up smash reliably KOs from anywhere on-stage around 100ish% without rage, while covering a large space all-around Dedede; lastly, down smash is his fastest smash attack in his arsenal and covers significant horizontal distance around both sides of Dedede, while easily KOing below 100% near the ledge and around 125% from center.

The rest of King Dedede's grounded moveset comes with merits: neutral attack can be useful for racking up damage, while the finisher's unique vertical knockback allows this move to KO at 150% under rage. King Dedede's forward tilt sports good range and startup lag, while its multiple hits are effective for dealing damage and starting combos, while also trapping rolling or floor-bound opponents; up tilt has quick startup lag and good range, allowing it to combo into itself while dealing good damage and leaving King Dedede's body and head intangible; lastly, down tilt deals good damage and has good range, being able to pursue opponents or retreat from them.

King Dedede's aerial game is also decent, thanks to his multiple midair jumps which allow him to stall and bait reactions from opponents. Neutral air is his fastest aerial due to coming out on frame 7, which can disrupt enemy combos, and its late hit can also set up combos for Dedede himself, such as up tilt or up air. Forward air has a lot of range in front of Dedede, which is good for spacing with its decent startup speed, and can wall of pain at lower percents. Back air is a potent kill option with a good range behind Dedede, which is also a good option for spacing and landing. Up air can beat out a lot of down aerials thanks to its long-range, and it also has strong KO potential. Down air, when sweetspotted, is a powerful meteor smash offstage, but its use in general is limited due to its slow startup and small awkward hitbox.

King Dedede's grab game has perks of its own. Although his grab has merely average range, this problem can be mitigated by dash grabbing. His pummel is good for racking up on damage, due to its quick speed, which is especially deadly at high percentages; forward throw has good edgeguarding potential, being able to follow up with Gordo Toss; back throw is Dedede's strongest throw, dealing the most damage and knockback while having limited degrees of damage racking and edgeguarding potential; up throw can also be used to launch opponents into previously thrown Gordos, and can follow up with an up aerial; lastly, down throw's low damage and knockback lend it great combo potential, easily stringing into itself, and initiating combos with Dedede's neutral, forward, and back aerials.

King Dedede's special moves have decent utility as well. Inhale acts as a strong command grab that can be B-Reversed for landing options against shielding opponents on the ground or on platforms above Dedede. The spit can force opponents into a recovery state by sending them offstage or even spit them under the stage, which is perhaps where Dedede is strongest. Inhale also doubles as a reflector, allowing him to contest against projectile campers. The Gordos from Gordo Throw act as powerful stage control options with KO potential in their own right at 140% and above and can set up deadly ledge traps. Lastly, Jet Hammer is an effective punishing tool with heavy armor that does very high damage and knockback, and with a max charge, it can break full shields.

In spite of these strengths, King Dedede still has noteworthy drawbacks. King Dedede's biggest problem is his approach, which is among the worst in the game. His mobility is sluggish, especially in the air, giving King Dedede immense difficulty catching up to or retreating from his opponents. King Dedede's below-average dashing speed also makes him over-reliant on fox-trotting to cover grounded distances, which itself is somewhat predictable.

Although King Dedede's fast falling speed allows him to easily return to the ground, his slow air speed, large hurtbox, heavy weight and lack of fast-enough escape options renders him vulnerable to combos and juggling. King Dedede's recovery is further hampered by his aforementioned slow air speed and fast falling speed, often forcing him to use his Super Dedede Jump to return onstage. Super Dedede Jump itself, in spite of traveling high, also causes King Dedede to descend very quickly; this, coupled with its limited horizontal maneuverability, renders Super Dedede Jump unreliable for recovering at certain distances offstage.

King Dedede's other specials can work against him as well. Inhale has high ending lag, allowing other characters to easily punish him after he finishes the move. Gordo Toss's Gordos can be reflected back at King Dedede from any attack that does 2% or higher, dealing immense damage to him and potentially resulting in a self-induced KO, requiring him to exercise caution or utilize Inhale on his reflected Gordos. Jet Hammer also takes a long time to charge, leaving King Dedede susceptible to attack, and its high ending lag leaves him vulnerable to punishment from his opponents.

Overall, King Dedede's high weight, endurance, range, and power allow him to punish his opponents with relative ease and survive for a very long time, but his poor overall mobility makes King Dedede's approach somewhat abysmal and renders his recovery somewhat predictable and overly reliant on Super Dedede Jump. Dedede players should be careful to not make a mistake, or else they might potentially risk getting heavily punished.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4
King Dedede was infamous for being one of the worst characters in SSB4, owing to a large number of weaknesses such as notoriously poor frame data, his moveset's lack of power despite being a super heavyweight, and his special moveset's lack of utility outside of Gordo Throw. Even in game updates, he infamously received nerfs while not receiving a single buff in return. Possibly as a result of his poorly regarded status, King Dedede has been buffed overall in the transition to Ultimate.

Among King Dedede's biggest buffs are those to his ground game. Neutral attack's KO power was significantly improved, and it has undergone adjustments that make it harder for opponents to fall from the move as easily. Forward tilt connects much better overall, allowing it to deal its maximum damage more frequently, whereas up tilt has increased KO power (now having power comparable to its Brawl incarnation, especially with rage) and down tilt's angle was positively adjusted while its hitbox was fixed, which when combined with the changes to jostling allows it to connect much more frequently. Dash attack now deals significantly increased knockback and has had its hitbox fixed, now making it a usable (albeit still rather slow) punish option at the edge. His smash attacks are also more useful, with both forward and up smash dealing more damage and knockback, and his forward smash is now slightly faster.

King Dedede's aerial game has been improved overall as well. The universal reductions to landing lag improve King Dedede's limited combo and set-up ability, making his neutral aerial a more potent combo starter, and giving his up aerial's looping hits the capacity of starting drag-down followups. Particularly, his up aerial now deals significantly increased knockback, turning it once again into a reliable KOing option despite its angle rendering it more vulnerable to LSI. Forward aerial has also increased knockback, improving its ability to edgeguard. His grab game has been slightly buffed as well, thanks to his grabs lasting for one more frame and his standing and dash grabs reaching further, in spite of all his grabs receiving slightly increased startup and increased ending lag.

King Dedede's special moveset has also received several miscellaneous buffs, giving him options that either he previously lacked or were outclassed. has a much larger grabbox and has gained the ability to spit out inhaled projectiles with a one-time increase to their damage, effectively giving him a reflector, which helps alleviate his vulnerability to projectile camping. Gordo Throw's hitboxes are larger and more accurate, and the move has less ending lag after a Gordo has been thrown. Additionally, Inhale's new ability to suck in projectiles to spit them out combines well with Gordo Throw, giving King Dedede another way to throw or re-launch Gordos at a faster speed, which gives the projectile much more utility. Jet Hammer now deals more damage and knockback, has shield breaking potential, and it now has heavy armor before the move comes out that resists up to 14%, improving the move as a hard punish option.

Aside from direct changes, King Dedede also benefits from a few changes to universal gameplay mechanics. The universal increase to mobility has buffed his abysmal horizontal mobility (although it still remains among the worst across the series), while the streamlined jumpsquats and the new limitations to air dodge mechanics have increased the effectiveness of his aerial moveset, by giving him additional landing options when combined with the reduction on landing lag, and improving his edgeguarding ability, now making the latter more formidable. The changes to air dodging also don't affect him as much as other characters, thanks to him still boasting multiple jumps and a long-distanced recovery move in Super Dedede Jump, and he can potentially use a directional air dodge without having to resort to using his recovery move.

However, King Dedede is not without a few nerfs. His back aerial, despite having a visually more accurate animation, has smaller hitboxes, slightly decreasing its range. His neutral attack and up tilt deal less damage, making the former a less reliable option for racking up excess damage. He has also received some nerfs in game updates, such as his forward smash not breaking shields at once. Despite this, most of his nerfs have all been extremely minor in comparison to his more useful buffs.

Altogether, King Dedede's entire kit has been noticeably improved from SSB4, and while this doesn't change his core playstyle significantly (aside from Inhale becoming a reflector), it allows him to play to his strengths better thanks his moves gaining improved consistency and utility, allowing King Dedede to utilize his strengths better. However, it is important to note that, due to this, King Dedede still retains most of his core weaknesses from the previous game, such as slow movement speed, a lackluster disadvantage state, a vulnerability to some forms of camping, and a high susceptibility to rushdown and combos, with many of these changes failing to alleviate his weaknesses outside of Inhale becoming a pseudo-reflector. Combined with the vast majority of returning veterans also receiving buffs that have improved them, King Dedede has not significantly improved to raise his standing relative to the cast, despite performing much better than in SSB4.

Update history
King Dedede received a mix of buffs, nerfs and glitch fixes via game updates, but was buffed slightly overall. The most notable nerfs were to Gordo Throw: update 2.0.0 shrunk the Gordos' hitboxes, while update 3.0.0 both lowered their shield damage output and removed the Gordo-boosted Super Dedede Jump. Moreover, this same update further toned down King Dedede's ability to pressure shields by removing forward smash's ability to hit grounded characters twice, which removed its ability to instantly break shields.

Following these nerfs, update 7.0.0 would mark the first time King Dedede was buffed in Ultimate, as his shield was enlarged as part of a near-universal buff. Update 8.0.0 continued this trend by buffing some of King Dedede's moves, primarily in regard to KO potential. Up tilt's damage output was increased noticeably, and down tilt's launching angle was lowered. As a result, both moves now function as strong, yet reasonably fast KO options when they are sweetspotted, which King Dedede was sorely lacking up to that point. Forward aerial and especially up aerial gained higher knockback: in addition to improving their KO potentials, with down throw to up aerial now being a KO confirm, this also improved forward aerial's edge-guarding potential.

In addition to his improved offense, King Dedede's defense was improved slightly, thanks to Inhale's decreased start-up lag and enlarged grabboxes making it more reliable at catching projectiles and approaches. Lastly, update 11.0.0 buffed Gordo Throw in a few ways: its decreased ending lag and Dedede's faster reflection timing have collectively made it safer, and its edge-guarding potential was improved thanks to the Gordos' increased chance of sticking to edges.

Overall, King Dedede fares slightly better than he did at the launch of Ultimate. Although Dedede retains a lot of his fundamental flaws and did not improve as much as other tepidly received characters that were also buffed via updates, his buffs have nevertheless improved his KO potential and, to a lesser degree, his defensive potential.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moveset
For a gallery of King Dedede's hitboxes, see here.
 * King Dedede can perform 4 double jumps, known as ing.

Announcer call
''

On-screen appearance

 * Sits on a palanquin carried by 4 Waddle Dees, then jumps off, scattering them.

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Holds up his hammer in celebration, twirling it and hoisting it upwards three times.
 * Side taunt: Twirls his hammer and laughs.
 * Down taunt: Spins around in a circle, slapping his belly and chanting.

Idle poses

 * Puts his hammer on his shoulder, briefly tapping against his shoulder twice.
 * Smacks his belly twice.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Swings his hammer twice before turning to the camera and while smiling smugly.
 * Up: Laughs and repeatedly slaps his belly while a Waddle Dee walks into the scene. The Waddle Dee doesn't appear in Team Battles.
 * Right: Twirls his hammer with a grimace, then charges Jet Hammer.

Tier placement and history
At the beginning of Ultimate's metagame, many players noticed how, despite retaining some of his weaknesses, King Dedede was overall buffed from SSB4 thanks to improvements to Gordo Throw and stronger KO options, as well as retaining his resilient endurance and disjointed range. This perception would further improve thanks to players such as and, both of whom made notable impacts at major tournaments, with the former placing 2nd at  and the latter placing 25th at. As a result, King Dedede became a more popular choice when compared to his appearance in SSB4, most notably in local and regional tournaments. By extension, the general perception casted him as an upper mid tier character, with potential to be a high tier character.

However, as the metagame progressed, game updates removing King Dedede's shield break combinations and shrinking the Gordos' hitboxes started to hurt his perception. Both ZAKI and Atomsk saw a decline in results while other players either dropped King Dedede in favor of others or relegated him to a secondary. In addition, the combination of King Dedede's poor disadvantage state, inconsistent KO potential, and laggy frame data has caused him to struggle against most top tier and high tier characters, including, , and. Although King Dedede is widely considered to be better than in SSB4, he still remains a pretty unpopular pick and is ranked 80th on the first and current tier list. Top Dedede players share a similar opinion on the character with Atomsk and Peli considering him a low tier character and one that is hard to use to get consistent results in tournaments.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:King Dedede players (SSBU)


 * - Considered the best King Dedede player in Mexico. He has a notable amount of results in regards to regional tournaments such as 4th at and 9th at, garnering wins over  and . His supermajor results are more rare, but he has placed 33rd at  with a win over , and more recently 65th at . He was ranked 29th on the Mexican Power Rankings, being the only King Dedede player to be ranked in the country.
 * - One of the best King Dedede players in the world when he was active. Has a multitude of great regional results such as 3rd at with a win over  and 4th at  where he defeated, which are some of King Dedede's best wins in the current meta. He also has some solid major results which include a 25th at , 33rd at , and 65th at . He was formerly ranked as high as 5th at the New Jersey Smash Ultimate Power Rankings. During the pandemic era, he became a very notable Wi-Fi Warrior, placing 3rd at  and 5th at , as well as being formerly ranked 39th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v6.
 * - The current best King Dedede player in the United States. She gained notoriety as one of the best King Dedede players in the online metagame, placing 3rd at, 7th at , and 25th at and was formerly ranked 34th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v4. In the post-pandemic era, she was previously ranked as high as 4th on the Upstate New York Power Rankings and placed 33rd at a few offline events such as  and  with wins over players such as , , and  at other events.
 * - One of the best King Dedede players in Europe. He has shown a lot of results in region as a King Dedede player with top 8 at multiple Spanish events and wins over and . Additionally, he has placed 33rd at  and . He is currently ranked 45th in the Spanish Smash Ultimate Power Rankings.
 * - One of the best King Dedede players in the world before dropping the character in favor of solo-maining . Back when he mained the character, he was ranked 23rd on the European Power Rankings and placed 3rd at, 9th at , and 25th at , using King Dedede to beat European talent such as , , and . He also won and while he primarily played Sonic, it marked one of the best runs for a King Dedede player, as Peli used the character to defeat  and  in his bracket.
 * - The best King Dedede player in the world. His best performance to date is 2nd at where he defeated  and . He has placed top 8 at multiple other Japanese tournaments such as 5th at  where he beat  and, as well as other Sumabatos such as , , and . He also holds the highest solo King Dedede placements at supermajors such as 25th at  and 33rd . Currently ranked 38th on the Experimental Smash Player Rankings.

: Royal Rumble
King Dedede faces off against characters with royal titles such as kings and princesses.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as King Dedede has  accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light
King Dedede was among the fighters that were summoned to fight against the army of Master Hands.

During the opening cutscene, King Dedede was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed its beams of light. He was vaporized offscreen and placed under Galeem's imprisonment along with the other fighters, excluding.

Dedede can only be accessed in a sub-area themed after the Gourmet Race minigame from Kirby Super Star, where the player must collect exactly 11 pieces of food for him to appear on the podium.

Spirits
King Dedede's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after King Dedede has been unlocked. Unlocking King Dedede in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. His fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with his artwork in Ultimate.

Additionally, King Dedede makes an appearance as a primary spirit under his Masked Dedede alter ego.

In Spirit Battles
Conditions in italic aren't listed on the Spirit Battle preview screen.

Trivia

 * During the segment of the Nintendo E3 Direct that focused on King Dedede's Final Smash, his eyes are normal colored while he is wearing his mask. In the final game, his eyes are yellow.
 * King Dedede is one of four characters that has appeared in all games with Final Smashes to have a different Final Smash in all of them; the other three are Pit, Zero Suit Samus, and R.O.B..
 * During King Dedede's Final Smash, while the camera shakes as missiles strike the opponent, the camera will briefly clip into the boxing ring showing darkness under it.
 * King Dedede's pose in his official render resembles one of his idle poses.
 * King Dedede's prank to the Kongs in 's reveal trailer is considered an in-joke within the fandom, as it is perceived as his voice actor, series director Masahiro Sakurai, making a practical joke at the expense of the fans.
 * Ironically, both King Dedede and King K. Rool are opponents of each other's Classic Mode route.
 * In the Korean version of the game, the Announcer calls him "King Dedede", despite having a slightly different name in Korean, "Dedede Daewang", which translates to "Dedede the Great". He shares this distinction with.
 * In the Chinese version of the game, the Announcer calls him "King Dedede" in the Simplified version, while the Traditional version has the "Dedede" announcement from the Japanese version.
 * In the French and European Spanish versions, the name tag and voice clip from the announcer on the victory screen is slightly different from the one used on the character select screen, instead featuring a noticeable translation of "the" (le Roi Dadidou and el Rey Dedede, respectively). This trait is shared with, , , , , , and the s. Additionally, he and are the only two fighters having this trait in the European version, but not in the American version.
 * King Dedede is one of the only two antagonists that can be unlocked in The Light Realm, the other being.
 * King Dedede is one of the few characters in the entire roster to have different facial expressions when attempting different types of grabs and missing them, being his standing grab (a confused expression) vs. his dash and pivot grabs (a continuously happy expression).
 * Others include (standing vs. dash vs. pivot) and  (standing and dash vs. pivot)
 * Prior to 3.0.0, if King Dedede threw a Smart Bomb at his opponent and tried to Inhale them, the Inhale would not affect anyone until the bomb explosion was over. This glitch may likely have been caused by opponents being locked in hitlag. When this happened, anyone caught in the Inhale from before would teleport into King Dedede's mouth once the explosion ended. could do this too.
 * King Dedede is one of the five veterans from Smash 4 to have their Boxing Ring alias changed in Ultimate, the others being, , , and.
 * Dedede has his own damage effect known simply as, which applies to all hammer-related moves with the exception of Jet Hammer. It is identical to normal.
 * Despite also having royal titles,, , and do not appear as opponents in King Dedede's Classic Mode route.
 * Additionally, Ganon does not appear as the boss in King Dedede's Classic Mode route despite also having a royal title.
 * Despite Masahiro Sakurai not being credited as a character voice in the credits, his name is listed in the Japanese version of King Dedede's Sound Test. King Dedede shares this distinction with (Kazumi Totaka), the Pikmin (Hajime Wakai), Winged Pikmin (Atsuko Asahi), Inkling (Yuki Tsuji), and the Tekken 7 announcer (Josh Keller).

Rey Dedede (SSBU)