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Donkey Kong (SSBU): Difference between revisions
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==Changes from ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''== | ==Changes from ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''== | ||
Donkey Kong received a mix of buffs and nerfs in his transition from ''Smash 4'' to ''Ultimate'', but despite receiving more buffs than nerfs, the former are notable enough to counterbalance them as they either weakened or removed the traits that he had in the previous game. | Donkey Kong received a mix of buffs and nerfs in his transition from ''Smash 4'' to ''Ultimate'', but despite receiving more buffs than nerfs, the former are notable enough to counterbalance them as they either weakened or removed the traits that he had in the previous game. Because of this, Donkey Kong has been nerfed overall, in addition to being hurt from many universal changes done to the game. | ||
Donkey Kong received several useful buffs, especially to his special moves. [[Giant Punch]] no longer leaves him helpless when used in the air, giving him a new edgeguarding option. [[Headbutt]] now grants him super armor before the hit comes, and moves deal their full damage when opponents are buried, which improves the moves' versatility. Aerial [[Spinning Kong]]'s vertical gain has slightly improved once again, and the move is now a proper multi-hitting move with a finishing hit, making it more safe. [[Hand Slap]] is generally faster and the aerial version has reduced landing lag, which gives Donkey Kong an excellent combo starter and allows it to confirm into KOs at high percentages. | Donkey Kong received several useful buffs, especially to his special moves. [[Giant Punch]] no longer leaves him helpless when used in the air, giving him a new edgeguarding option. [[Headbutt]] now grants him super armor before the hit comes, and moves deal their full damage when opponents are buried, which improves the moves' versatility. Aerial [[Spinning Kong]]'s vertical gain has slightly improved once again, and the move is now a proper multi-hitting move with a finishing hit, making it more safe. [[Hand Slap]] is generally faster and the aerial version has reduced landing lag, which gives Donkey Kong an excellent combo starter and allows it to confirm into KOs at high percentages. | ||
Other improvements include those to his forward throw, which now gives him a lot more options and turns it into his most versatile throw. His [[dash attack]] also has less ending lag, giving him yet another combo starter if the late hit is landed. Donkey Kong's already impressive KO power was further increased, as most of his moves do more knockback. Finally, Donkey Kong also benefits from some of the universal changes, as his already great mobility has improved from faster walking and dashing speeds | Other improvements include those to his forward throw, which now gives him a lot more options and turns it into his most versatile throw. His [[dash attack]] also has less ending lag, giving him yet another combo starter if the late hit is landed. Donkey Kong's already impressive KO power was further increased, as most of his moves do more knockback. Finally, Donkey Kong also benefits from some of the universal changes, as his already great mobility has improved from faster walking and dashing speeds, the universal 3-frame jumpsquat change allows him for with combo opportunities, and the increased shieldstun makes his attacks even safer on shield. | ||
However, the few nerfs Donkey Kong received are severe enough to eclipse his buffs. Like {{SSBU|Bowser}}, his biggest nerf is that his cargo up throw now has more knockback, which severely hampers both its combo ability (now mostly limiting it to up aerial) and its infamous "Ding Dong" KO confirm at high percentages. Although his grab game was overall buffed, Donkey Kong is one of the characters who suffers the most from the universal nerfing of grabs, making them much less safe for him to use. His pummel was also nerfed as well, making it less reliable for racking up damage. Thus, this makes it less feasible to use a grab as his main way to rack up damage, forcing Donkey Kong to use other methods to rack up damage. Other nerfs include his up aerial having shorter range, which hinders its versatility, and Spinning Kong gaining less horizontal distance and no longer granting intangibility on startup, overall worsening his already poor recovery. Also, many of his attacks no longer have disproportionately long intangibility, now only matching the hitbox duration of attacks such as his tilts and his up aerial. | However, the few nerfs Donkey Kong received are severe enough to eclipse his buffs. Like {{SSBU|Bowser}}, his biggest nerf is that his cargo up throw now has more knockback, which severely hampers both its combo ability (now mostly limiting it to up aerial) and its infamous "Ding Dong" KO confirm at high percentages. Although his grab game was overall buffed, Donkey Kong is one of the characters who suffers the most from the universal nerfing of grabs, making them much less safe for him to use. His pummel was also nerfed as well, making it less reliable for racking up damage. Thus, this makes it less feasible to use a grab as his main way to rack up damage, forcing Donkey Kong to use other methods to rack up damage. Other nerfs include his up aerial having shorter range, which hinders its versatility, and Spinning Kong gaining less horizontal distance and no longer granting intangibility on startup, overall worsening his already poor recovery. Also, many of his attacks no longer have disproportionately long intangibility, now only matching the hitbox duration of attacks such as his tilts and his up aerial. | ||
Although he has gained some notable benefits from them, the universal changes to gameplay mechanics | Although he has gained some notable benefits from them, the universal changes to gameplay mechanics hamper Donkey Kong more than they help him overall. While the universal increase in mobility, faster jumpsquat and reduced landing lag on aerials improve his own mobility and combo game, it also means opponents are more likely to close in the distance on Donkey Kong and allow for more combo opportunities on him. The increased shieldstun, reduced landing lag and the universal nerfing of grabs also make it harder for Donkey Kong to react to a shielded attack, hindering his [[out of shield]] game. The universal nerfing of grabs is especially painful, as Donkey Kong's gameplan involves a lot around his grab game, which is hurt with the universal nerf. Lastly, the changes to [[air dodging]] also worsen his recovery, as they give him less protection and make him easier to edgeguard. Overall, all of these changes worsen Donkey Kong's already mediocre defensive game, which is further notable since the game's engine prioritizes more aggressive playstyles than defensive ones, and thus forces him not only to [[approach]] more, but to be more unpredictable at doing so. | ||
In the end, Donkey Kong has potentially received more options for racking up damage and be less predictable, but the worsening of his KO confirm and grabs means Donkey Kong can no longer close out stocks as early as before. While both his strengths and weaknesses are more defined than before, the gameplay mechanics accentuate more his weaknesses compared to his strengths, which has | In the end, Donkey Kong has potentially received more options for racking up damage and be less predictable, but the worsening of his KO confirm and grabs means Donkey Kong can no longer close out stocks as early as before. While both his strengths and weaknesses are more defined than before, the gameplay mechanics also accentuate more his weaknesses compared to his strengths, which has subsequently caused his nerfs to overshadow his buffs. As a result, Donkey Kong fares noticeably worse in ''Ultimate'' than in ''Smash 4'', and is one of the characters to be nerfed the most in the transition, alongside {{SSBU|Bayonetta}}, {{SSBU|Cloud}}, {{SSBU|Corrin}}, {{SSBU|Diddy Kong}}, the {{SSBU|Ice Climbers}}, {{SSBU|Little Mac}}, {{SSBU|Rosalina & Luma}} and {{SSBU|Sheik}}. | ||
Donkey Kong's overall perception in competitive play has been negative; while he was initially believed to be improved from his already good standing from ''Smash 4'' (doing exceptionally well in early tournaments), as the metagame has evolved, his tournament representation went down significantly to the point in which it is rather poor. Many of his players have either dropped him or become inactive, with his most noticeable player, {{Sm|Konga}}, gathering average to somewhat lackluster placements in tournaments, and temporarily quit competitive play in September 2019. Most of his other notable players, such as {{Sm|HIKARU}}, have also completely dropped him, while {{Sm|Tweek}} no longer uses him as a secondary. The current general consensus is that Donkey Kong is a low tier character - many top players consider him to be a bottom 10 contender and few go even further, with them saying that Donkey Kong is potentially one of the worst characters in the game. Until further notice, Donkey Kong's tier placement remains debatable. | |||
===Aesthetics=== | ===Aesthetics=== | ||