Ridley (SSBU): Difference between revisions
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Ridley, unsurprisingly for being a large character with powerful attacks, is a [[weight|heavyweight]] character, although he weighs much less than a super heavyweight despite his similar size. However, his attributes compared to other archetypal heavyweights are noticeably different, as Ridley has overall excellent mobility in the 10th fastest [[dash]]ing speed, average [[air speed]], the 16th fastest [[falling speed]], average [[gravity]], and average frame data, compounded with a long-distanced recovery. His varied moves allow him to play as a zoning, rushdown, or a pressure-based character. | Ridley, unsurprisingly for being a large character with powerful attacks, is a [[weight|heavyweight]] character, although he weighs much less than a super heavyweight despite his similar size. However, his attributes compared to other archetypal heavyweights are noticeably different, as Ridley has overall excellent mobility in the 10th fastest [[dash]]ing speed, average [[air speed]], the 16th fastest [[falling speed]], average [[gravity]], and average frame data, compounded with a long-distanced recovery. His varied moves allow him to play as a zoning, rushdown, or a pressure-based character. | ||
Ridley's most defining trait is his dominant air game. Boasting overall quick, powerful, and long-ranged aerials, having two midair jumps, and decent air mobility give him overall excellent air pressure potential. Thanks to his additional jump, relatively low gravity and relatively high fast fall speed, he has superb vertical flexibility, and can use additional jumps or surprise fastfalls to fake out and punish his opponents with his far-reaching aerials. His [[neutral aerial]], due to having low all-around lag, good range, and average knockback, is a good comboing, spacing, and [[edgeguarding]] tool, while also being fast enough to break out of certain combos if positioned correctly. [[Forward aerial]], while having merely average power, has very high damage output when all hits are sweetspotted, and is infamous for effectively performing a [[wall of pain]] at low percentages, especially due to Ridley's aforementioned two midair jumps. [[Back aerial]] is quick, long-ranged and has very high damage and knockback, which makes it a deadly edgeguarding tool and can KO especially early offstage. [[Up aerial]] is a good juggling move with quick startup and good KO potential when sweetspotted, but | Ridley's most defining trait is his dominant air game. Boasting overall quick, powerful, and long-ranged aerials, having two midair jumps, and decent air mobility give him overall excellent air pressure potential. Thanks to his additional jump, relatively low gravity and relatively high fast fall speed, he has superb vertical flexibility, and can use additional jumps or surprise fastfalls to fake out and punish his opponents with his far-reaching aerials. His [[neutral aerial]], due to having low all-around lag, good range, and average knockback, is a good comboing, spacing, and [[edgeguarding]] tool, while also being fast enough to break out of certain combos if positioned correctly. [[Forward aerial]], while having merely average power, has very high damage output when all hits are sweetspotted, and is infamous for effectively performing a [[wall of pain]] at low percentages, especially due to Ridley's aforementioned two midair jumps. [[Back aerial]] is quick, long-ranged and has very high damage and knockback, which makes it a deadly edgeguarding tool and can KO especially early offstage. [[Up aerial]] is a good, disjointed juggling move with quick startup and good KO potential when sweetspotted, but requires opponents to be very close to or above Ridley to land. Lastly, [[down aerial]] is a stall-and-fall that powerfully [[meteor smash|meteor smashes]] opponents when sweetspotted, and can potentially be recovered from if initiated slightly above the ground. Even when sourspotted, it has high KO potential. | ||
Ridley also has an abundance of powerful moves like his fellow heavyweights, which leads into one of his other primary strengths; his edgeguarding ability. His aforementioned potential in the air gives him huge offstage presence, and many of his attacks have great KO potential. His aforementioned forward aerial boasts great wall of pain potential with enough reach and a long enough duration to effectively gimp most recovering opponents. Ridley also has easy ways to set up edgeguards; his down tilt and down throw are both very reliable combo starters that launch at favorable angles, and he has plenty of other attacks that have high horizontal knockback, such as forward tilt and dash attack. As a result, Ridley poses a huge threat once he is in an advantage state, as making the right plays will give the opponent little to no chance to come back, which gives him among the best edgeguarding abilities in the game. | Ridley also has an abundance of powerful moves like his fellow heavyweights, which leads into one of his other primary strengths; his edgeguarding ability. His aforementioned potential in the air gives him huge offstage presence, and many of his attacks have great KO potential. His aforementioned forward aerial boasts great wall of pain potential with enough reach and a long enough duration to effectively gimp most recovering opponents. Ridley also has easy ways to set up edgeguards; his down tilt and down throw are both very reliable combo starters that launch at favorable angles, and he has plenty of other attacks that have high horizontal knockback, such as forward tilt and dash attack. As a result, Ridley poses a huge threat once he is in an advantage state, as making the right plays will give the opponent little to no chance to come back, which gives him among the best edgeguarding abilities in the game. | ||
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Another one of Ridley's most notable attributes is his range, courtesy of his very large frame. Many of Ridley's moves have large, disjointed hitboxes, some even eclipsing sword users like Marth and Ike. Ridley also has a surprising lack of sourspots across his toolkit, with examples like his down smash being the only "hopping" down smash to have a consistently powerful hitbox with no sourspot. Ridley's disjoints can even challenge and beat out incoming projectiles when timed right, and can even break him out of disadvantage. This is all on top of the aforementioned projectile he has, and plays into what makes Ridley a strangely varied fighter for his weight and size. Ridley has the tools to gradually poke and pressure from a fair distance away, but also aggressively punish whiffs or what would be normally inconsequential slip ups. Because of this, he has a formidable and variable punish game. | Another one of Ridley's most notable attributes is his range, courtesy of his very large frame. Many of Ridley's moves have large, disjointed hitboxes, some even eclipsing sword users like Marth and Ike. Ridley also has a surprising lack of sourspots across his toolkit, with examples like his down smash being the only "hopping" down smash to have a consistently powerful hitbox with no sourspot. Ridley's disjoints can even challenge and beat out incoming projectiles when timed right, and can even break him out of disadvantage. This is all on top of the aforementioned projectile he has, and plays into what makes Ridley a strangely varied fighter for his weight and size. Ridley has the tools to gradually poke and pressure from a fair distance away, but also aggressively punish whiffs or what would be normally inconsequential slip ups. Because of this, he has a formidable and variable punish game. | ||
Lastly, Ridley is a character with a surprisingly dangerous combo game and an oppressive advantage state, and those unaware of Ridley's danger factor can find themselves being quickly and heavily overwhelmed and/or find it difficult to get in. Down throw, up tilt, down tilt, neutral aerial, and Plasma Breath can lead into various strings and combos that can rack up huge damage with only a few hits, with some even leading to easy kill moves (such as Plasma Breath to dash attack, or late hit neutral aerial to forward smash). Due to the disjointed hitboxes on his tail and wings, this gives him an impressive amount of defense even while on the offense. This allows Ridley to pile up damage very quickly and also makes it risky for opponents to regain the advantage, as Ridley's ability to start combos and break a defense even while in a disadvantage forces the opponent to be cautious and aware of Ridley's options. | A minor, but notable aspect of Ridley's kit are his impressive recovery skills. Being a multi-jumper with decent air speed naturally allows Ridley to gain extra distance and reposition himself to adapt to the situation. Space Pirate Rush can offer Ridley some horizontal gain, as well as threaten the opponent with a moving command grab that can put them in a very uncomfortable position. Wing Blitz, however, provides a lot of unique properties. The invulnerable tips can prevent many attacks with the right aim, including but not limited to Villager's fsmash and Mega Man's dair. The attack itself is also quite strong and covers a lot of distance relatively quickly, with the start up time being mitigated by how far Ridley can recover from. This can discourage the opponent from trying to edgeguard Ridley at all, especially if he has extra jumps in reserve. All in all, despite being rigid and potentially exploitable, Ridley's recovery has attributes and options that are both unique and valuable for a character of his stature. | ||
Lastly, Ridley is a character with a surprisingly dangerous combo game and an oppressive advantage state, and those unaware of Ridley's danger factor can find themselves being quickly and heavily overwhelmed and/or find it difficult to get in. Down throw, up tilt, down tilt, neutral aerial, and Plasma Breath can lead into various strings and combos that can rack up huge damage with only a few hits, with some even leading to easy kill moves (such as Plasma Breath to dash attack, or late hit neutral aerial to forward smash, and even kill confirms into his up tilt thanks to patch 4.0). Due to the disjointed hitboxes on his tail and wings, this gives him an impressive amount of defense even while on the offense. This allows Ridley to pile up damage very quickly and also makes it risky for opponents to regain the advantage, as Ridley's ability to start combos and break a defense even while in a disadvantage forces the opponent to be cautious and aware of Ridley's options. | |||
While Ridley has amazing strengths, he also has some weaknesses. Ridley has the largest hurtbox out of all characters, combined with his heavy weight and fast falling speed makes him very easy to combo, juggle, and hit in general, and while Ridley's frame data is decent, especially for a heavyweight, he is nevertheless rather easy to [[punishment|punish]] due to some of his best attacks having noticeable ending lag. Ridley's moveset is so focused on accumulating damage, netting kills, and sustaining advantage that he lacks tools to prevent these very things from happening to him. Because of this, Ridley's disadvantage state is not only torturous to endure, but easy to slip into. Failure to overwhelm or control aggression will be a death sentence. His options against projectile users and zoning is rather limited, despite having zoning tools and a projectile himself; Plasma Breath is laggy and its projectiles travel slowly, while the move also possesses a hurtbox on Ridley's mouth that damages and stuns him if he is hit there, and even if said recoil prevents knockback, it can easily open up opportunities for more attacks against him that would end a stock. This trick also has virtually no beneficial use outside surprising unfamiliar opponents or emergency situations during kill percent. Ridley's disjointed moves are capable of beating out projectiles, and he has a few moves that boast enough range to challenge zoners, but these options usually require a great deal of effort to execute right compared to what they're challenging, and can quickly lead to Ridley being cornered into a worse situation. This is further expressed with how tricky it is to land with Ridley despite being a fast faller, as even his versatile neutral aerial has difficulty covering directly below him. Overall, Ridley's vulnerabilities give him difficulty against characters with better frame data and/or edge-guarding/pressuring tools. | While Ridley has amazing strengths, he also has some weaknesses. Ridley has the largest hurtbox out of all characters, combined with his heavy weight and fast falling speed makes him very easy to combo, juggle, and hit in general, and while Ridley's frame data is decent, especially for a heavyweight, he is nevertheless rather easy to [[punishment|punish]] due to some of his best attacks having noticeable ending lag. Ridley's moveset is so focused on accumulating damage, netting kills, and sustaining advantage that he lacks tools to prevent these very things from happening to him. Because of this, Ridley's disadvantage state is not only torturous to endure, but easy to slip into. Failure to overwhelm or control aggression will be a death sentence. His options against projectile users and zoning is rather limited, despite having zoning tools and a projectile himself; Plasma Breath is laggy and its projectiles travel slowly, while the move also possesses a hurtbox on Ridley's mouth that damages and stuns him if he is hit there, and even if said recoil prevents knockback, it can easily open up opportunities for more attacks against him that would end a stock. This trick also has virtually no beneficial use outside surprising unfamiliar opponents or emergency situations during kill percent. Ridley's disjointed moves are capable of beating out projectiles, and he has a few moves that boast enough range to challenge zoners, but these options usually require a great deal of effort to execute right compared to what they're challenging, and can quickly lead to Ridley being cornered into a worse situation. This is further expressed with how tricky it is to land with Ridley despite being a fast faller, as even his versatile neutral aerial has difficulty covering directly below him. Overall, Ridley's vulnerabilities give him difficulty against characters with better frame data and/or edge-guarding/pressuring tools. | ||