Hey guys.
I'm attending a Smash tournament and I've pressured convinced some of my friends to enter. None play Smash competitively, but I at least want to set them up not be slaughtered. One is convinced that he wants to play King Dedede. What are some of the basic things I can teach him? How should he be throwing his Gordos around? Any neat and simple combos I should pass on?
10/10, I'm teaching him to do this.
First thing, Gordos arn't spammable projectiles. They're for influencing your opponent and limiting their options. The easiest trick is to angle it so it bounces on the edge of the stage. Meanwhile you can charge fSmash very safely. Or chase your opponent off-stage, which is also safe, since Dedede has many jumps and great recovery.
Basicly, Dedede shines when your opponent is off-stage.
That aside, know which moves are quick, which ones are disjointed.
dTilt and nAir both come out very quickly. One trick is too fast fall onto your opponent with a nAir.
fTilt has a nice disjointed hitbox, so does fAir and uAir.
dSmash is good for punishing rolls, uSmash and fSmash are decently safe when the opponent is off-stage and the Gordo is bouncing. Otherwise, fSmash is not a very safe move (but it's hitbox' size is deceiving, it extends a bit outside of the hammer, but only as a sourspot).
Finally; know your killmoves.
fSmash can kill at 60% if you do everything right, but it's slow and risky.
bAir is fairly reliable, but you need to know how the hitbox comes out, since it's a little delayed.
uAir can also kill and is pretty safe.
dSmash is a pretty good kill move, and uSmash is okay, it's sweet- and sourspots are a lil' weird.
Finally, dThrow combos into nAir and fAir at lower %s and uAir at higher %s.
Other than that, use the throws to get your opponent off-stage, that's where you want them.
dTilt can also combo into fTilt.
Another thing is that you can use the jab to hit the opponent twice and then not do the full combo. The second hit has great reach and pulls opponents torwards Dedede. You can follow up with a grab, fTilt or a dSmash.
Also, you can reflect a reflected Gordo. Only throw it out when you want your opponent to go somewhere (example: opponent is in the air, throw a Gordo under him or her, they'll move away and you can jump up and intercept them).
You can also re-catch reflected Gordos with L/R in the air.