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 Donkey Kong Donkey Kong's Grounded Hand Slap and back air are the core to DK’s mixup game when in range. They both complement each other's shortcomings for coverage and are incredibly rewarding on hit. When the opponent is grounded, Grounded Hand Slap is safe on block with proper spacing. Back air punishes opponents attempting to jump over Grounded Hand Slap, making it a quick air-to-air normal with lots of reward. Mixing in burst options like dash attack or threatening an incredibly potent grab with these two options gives DK a surprisingly strong neutral against most of the cast.
Donkey Kong’s down tilt and forward tilt are also other noncommittal buttons to challenge grounded opponents with a high degree of safety. Up tilts, upward-angled forward tilts, and fadeback back airs give Donkey Kong access to a strong anti-air game. Donkey Kong can also gain important advantages from these moves, with tripping down tilts leading to grabs, dash attacks, and Giant Punch. His up tilts lead to combos into up airs, and his forward tilts lead to better stage positioning. Mix that in with the high reward from Donkey Kong's grabs thanks to Cargo Throw and we got a character who can take the upper hand and literally run with it.
One who wants a versatile toolkit capable of playing many styles with a lean towards controlling space with explosive rewards would need to look no further than the leader of the bunch! |
- Versatile: Donkey Kong is above average with just about everything, and can perform any style necessary for the situation or matchup.
- Explosive Advantage State: If Donkey Kong gets his hands on his opponent, his potent juggling, combo trees, and edgeguarding can absolutely obliterate stocks.
- Great Burst Options: Donkey Kong’s dash attack is incredibly large, so DK can call out grounded movement very easily. Aggressive RAR back airs can catch aerial movement as well.
- High Range for Startup: Donkey Kong’s moves have impressive range, but what’s more impressive is that unlike other characters, DK doesn’t sacrifice startup and can reasonably box out sword characters like Marth, Corrin, Ike, and many others.
- Quick Mobility: Donkey Kong is above average in terms of mobility, which allows him to position himself better than most. He has a top 10 walkspeed in particular, which complements his ability to space.
- Armor: Donkey Kong's Giant Punch, Grounded Spinning Kong, and Headbutt all have armor properties. This allows DK to deal with certain moves well and deal devastating punishes to opponents that aren't careful!
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- Easy to combo: While Donkey Kong is very heavy, his large size and poor options out of disadvantage means that he will die in very few neutral interactions.
- Exploitable Recovery: Donkey Kong is very prone to being edgeguarded in a rinse-repeat fashion until death if he doesn’t mix up properly. Spinning Kong does not have particularly great vertical distance either, and lacks hitbox placements above and below him. This makes him very prone to dying off of meteors, which can kill Donkey Kong incredibly early if he doesn't have his double jump.
- Poor Out of Shield Options: If Donkey Kong is forced to shield, his options are slower than most of the cast. He has niche options with armor in Grounded Spinning Kong, but they are not very reliable outside of hard reads.
- Poor Diagonal Presence: If the opponent approaches DK at an angle, they will find it much easier to exploit DK’s blindspots.
- Gets Whiff Punished Easily: If Donkey Kong misses an attack, he will be in endlag for a very long time. Furthermore, his whiffs massively extend his hurtbox, making moving around Donkey Kong for a whiff punish very effective.
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