The #1 source for your Diddy Kong needs.
A few notes:
-DiddyK is fast.
-Banana Peels are the best thing since slice bread, use them and annoy your opponents.
-Peanut Popgun is annoying too, combo Banana Peels n Peanut Popgun to frustrate your opponents.
Well, I’m going to attempt to build a foundation for Diddy Kong players, and from replies, continually build upon it. I?m still learning, so it will help anyone trying to main Diddy, I suppose. If you don?t know who Diddy is and you?re playing smash, then lol@you.
I’m going to be saying this a lot, but for good reason. It is important that you use your bananas.
Attacks
?Basic? attacks
Neutral A ? 7+ % (3% + 2% +2% for each tail hit)
Nothing special to say about this. He slaps the enemy for a bit and then uses his tail to start a chain of attacks.
Roll attack ? 9% (3% + 2% + 4%)
A cartwheel attack. This attack is ridiculously hard to punish, has no lag and can set up for combos. By performing an “instant dash attack” (by tapping left/right and c-stick down), this can lead to a great amount of crossing up. It’s also especially good, because it can be linked into up/side smashes/tilts. Mix this up with bananas.
-Tilts
U.Tilt - 7%
An overhead slapping move. Extremely good for juggling, especially at low HP, so try to build off of it. It can also KO (better than U.Smash actually?). Another nice thing about this, is that it basically has no lag (so it gives more incentive to use it).
F.Tilt - 11%
Diddy extends both of his arms outwards. It has decent range, and can be used for a quick K.O.
D.tilt ? 7%
A crouching, clapping move. According to Brahma
-Air
N.Air - 6%
An aerial cartwheel. According to Brahma
**
U.Air** ? 11%
A backflip kick. Great for juggling, use this with U.Tilt. It can also K.O somewhat decently
F.Air ? 14%
A spinning drill kick. This is a great K.O move. Try running into short hop - F.air, and use it for edge-guarding.
B.Air - 9%
A backward spinning horizontal kick. Can be spammed pretty well, as it doesn?t have lag (try doing it with a short hop).
D.Air ? 12%
This is where Diddy forcefully puts his hands together and pummels someone down. It’s a ridiculously good spike, use it whenever you can for a K.O? just go to youtube, and use it in training mode, you’ll see what I mean. Some advice for troubles, do NOT attempt to do this when you’re above them. This wont work, instead you have to try to approach them from beneath.
Smashes
U.smash ? 16% (5% + 5% + 6%)
The result of an upward hitting barrel roll 3 hit combo. Gives a good deal of damage but does NOT KO well (as I?ve said, U.Tilt is better than U.smash).
F.smash ? 18% (5% + 13%)
A horizontal spinning attack, where Diddy’s arms are extended. Great spacing move (2 attacks), and what I believe to be the best KO attack.
D.Smash ? 16% or 12% (Front and back hit respectively)
A 2 way, low sweeping kick. Also great for KOs, I found use for this after a roll, or unwary dodgers.
Specials
**
Neutral B** ? 4% - 17% (depending on charge)
Diddy?s peanut gun (holdable). It can be used for campers, for edge-guarding. According to Brahma
**Side B **? 15% or 10% (Pressing A or Up respectively)
The diddy hump. Once latched on, you press A to attack them, or up to bounce up off of them. This can be used as a spike if you can land it on someone trying to get back on the stage.
It should also be noted that after pressing side b, a kick can be performed by either pressing A or B. This can be used on the enemies recovery or if they?re approaching.
Lastly, Side B helps a great deal on the recovery. Use it if Diddy isn?t close enough to the stage, and then use his Up.B. However you CAN NOT use Up.B after doing a kick out of side B.
Down B- 4-6% per thrown hit (tripping causes no damage :?[)
The (2) bananas. These are EXTREMELY helpful, especially in edge guarding, since enemies slip on them (which unfortunately doesnt do damage, but does help give an opportunity). Try to put them in places they would roll to or jump back on to. They can also be used for comboing, when they?re thrown at the enemy. This can be espicially dangerous when chained with both bananas and the person continually slips, leaving you a chance to do a K.O move. After a banana is thrown out, roll back to have it right at your feet. Always make sure the bananas are in YOUR control to force a change of gamestyle(dodging, camping, etc). If they are able to continually throw them back then you are doing something wrong.
According to Brahma
**
Up B** - 10% (charging doesn’t make a difference for damage)
This is Diddy?s recovery (holdable), where he uses twin barrels. As mentioned before, use side B with this to make for a extremely good recovery. Also, you can direct this move, so use it appropriately. Just make sure to hold it long enough :\ Something else to note, this can also be used as a spike if they are close enough to you and below you. According to Brahma
According to Pimp Willy…
**
Final Smash** ? 8% per peanut hit, 18% for each time you touch.
Crazy barrel peanut launching fun. I generally try to stay at the top middle and simply tilt left and right. That way I don’t risk getting off of the map and I can still hit people from a distance. However, I’m sure there are better ways to approach this, feedback would be cool.
So to try to make this more clear…
Damage:Constantly use bananas. Try to get them out as early as possible in the match and use them in whatever situation to push them and corner them in, as it will greatly affect dodgers and campers. Just be in control, because they can throw them back (obviously). Use them in edge guarding also to give a good opportunity for another K.O attack. While using these bananas, do a lot of u.tilts to rack up damage at lower percent, and juggle with U.air.
KO’s: Definetely use F.Smash whenever you get the opportunity to (again, going back to the bananas). If
you have to be quick, use a forward tilt. Try doing a D.Smash after a roll, or when they roll to you for an area effect. Also, an u.tilt can lead to a K.O if at high enough percent, but other wise try to link it to a F.Air. If a spike is possible (D.Air) DO IT.
Matchups
Snake With personal experience, this constantly became a struggle for juggling (me) or forcing the opponent on the ground(the snake player). Therefore you really have to push snake with the bananas. This will espicially help with detonations, as they will have to be wary where can they can walk around. Make sure to juggle them as well as you can. Also, I’ve found spiking to be very easy on a snake that’s recovering. Since snake’s recovery dips him down a bit and then rises him up, and his aerials are somewhat slow, it gives your a great deal of time to set up the spike.
I’ll put more matchups later. I need to play more first :.
Videos
From Alphazealot…
Thanks to alpha for the Instant dash attack, and
Pimp Willy for some Up B stuff
AlphaZealot for some matches
By the way, if any material I’m citing should be taken out, just tell me.
Thanks Somnus I will get up some damage data tomorrow when I have the time…
I think I might be able to take care of it actually.
Yeah, taken care of, if anyone has questions about anything, please ask.
Comments are cool too.
“Why you trippin’?”
Diddy is probably the second best character at doing WoP next to Jiggs. Plus he has a lot more going for his air game than just WoP, like combos and KOs.
Diddy’s cartwheel has about zero lag and can almost never be punished.
Ima make Diddy my main, he’s too fun :tup:
Can his Side B be used as a ghetto jump? Like…Mario’s cape in the air? Speaking of Side b if you don’t grab the guy he’ll do some wierd kick that covers his frontside nicley =D
Try my signature, banana alpha cancel cartwheel bullshit maneuver. Shit is so good for raking in damage, also cross them up for a confusing roll into a possible banana.
Here’s a tidbit I picked up thats useful for stages with platforms where you can’t pass through (Spear Pillar, Skyworld, Luigis Mansion, etc), possibly useful for stages with walls (shadow moses), and not so useful otherwise. Diddy’s up+B will explode when connecting to a wall, dealing 5% damage do him. However, when the bongos explode, they do a VERY hefty amount of knockback in a pretty large radius. You can use this to get a KO on an opponent caught in a bad position.
Yo, AZ. I just saw the youtube of you vs Brun at C3. That was some good shit. Post up a match analisys if you don’t mind.
fyi for recovery you can do a his sideB, then airdodge and then upB after the airdodge. this helps recover from extremely far distances and always let you come up from the bottom and hit the ledge good.
Some things not mentioned yet:
You can pick up bananas with dash attack, any aerial, or an airdodge.
Your bananas can and will be used against you. I prefer to have only one banana in play just to easier keep track.
Down B has two ways to pull. Smash down B and tilt down B. Obviously smash version tosses higher.
Peanut Popgun can be canceled in the initial frames with shield. I use this for aerial turnaround to toss bananas. Peanuts can also be caught by enemies and throws at you.
You can spike with Rocketbarrel’s blast.
You can cancel the Rocketbarrel’s usual descent by using your second jump at the same time as UpB. It will go upwards as you charge. this can only be done if you are hit first.
Nair might not have KO power or priority, but it is still an important move. It is AFAIK his quickest aerial (pretty sure quicker than Bair, even though it recovers slower) and since it has low knockback it is very useful for comboing.
Dtilt is nice. It has little knockback and can be chained into itself or Fsmash at medium %.
Since Diddy’s best KO moves (Fair, Fsmash) don’t have the greatest knockback to begin with, make sure you don’t spam them, since successive use of moves causes them to decay in both damage and knockback.
If you try to spike by coming from below then using Dair, you leave your self very open to spikes yourself, and also footstool jumps. Coming from above is IMO the best way to spike with Diddy.
Also, airdodge does not add any distance to recoveries. This was disproven already. Arguably his best recovery is SideB, DJ+UpB.
How do you guys feel about 1 banana vs. 2? I myself prefer to have only one banana on the stage at a time. I find if I have two, it does add pressure to the opponent, but it is also more likely that they will grab one. I feel that by only having one banana out at atime I can control the stage more effectively. This may have a lot to do with the way I use it.
The way I use the banana is mostly as a projectile. Pull one out, catch it, then it is usually either in my hand or flying directly at the opponent. If it hits after a forward toss, I usually go for dash attack/Nair/dash canceled Usmash. If it gets shielded I usually catch it on the rebound with Z/Nair then try again or go for >B. I’m also particularly fond of dropping it over an opponents head then catching it with Nair/Dair on the way down, whether it is shielded or not.
I’ve also taken a liking to glide toss forwards then pressuring shield with Ftilt/Dtilt or grabbing.
What I’ve been working on more is using bananas on the ground as part of a tech trap/lockdown game, and limiting movement. The only problem I’ve found with this is that with bananas on the floor, the more likely it is that the opponent gets ahold of one. So far my favorite tricks are dropping one on a SH approach then Nairing if I suspect an airdodging behind me. Other than that I occasionally drop one near the edge to limit a recovering opponent’s options by the ledge.
Thoughts, comments, concerns?
Just did some editing…mostly just adding stuff Brahma said…
Anyway, with the topic of bananas, it’s really situational for me. Sometimes I’m able to control the stage very effectively with 2 bananas, especially if they roll into me. It gives me a ton of free hits, and the opponent doesn’t seem to realize it. 2 bananas are always out when I edge guard.
In response to this…
What I try to do is keep 1 banana out, roll back, and gradually bring another one out, while keeping on them by spamming cartwheels (simultaneously grabbing bananas), and throwing them at the opponent. Hopefully that makes sense…
Basically I just try to read my opponent as quickly as possible and adapt. Besides that, I pretty much do everything else you say.
Opponents can catch the peanut & throw it back @ you or it can be used to recover your health.
don’t have a strategy guide for him or anything, but I’d just like to say… the bananas are probably the most useful item move. I don’t know if anyone’s done this matchup before, but Diddy vs Donkey is a seriously hard matchup. with bananas though, the playing field is heavily in your favor. Use them as your primary source of attack, trap them into slipping on them over and over, pretty easy 0%-death
I play this match quite a bit with DK. He can get a free punch/fsmash on Diddy if he hits with a glide tossed banana. If they shield it DK can abuse Diddy’s shield. With Diddy being so light IMO this match is in DK’s favor, since if DK gets ahold of a banana he can control space even moreso than he already does.
IMO the point in that is to take away a banana from Diddy, not to use his bananas against him. After all, Diddy doesn’t even have to travel on the ground to move quickly horizontally. 2 Diddy-owned bananas on a stage are very easy to slip on. I try to leave one banana on the ground and one banana to assault with. I think Diddy is hurt more by losing control of the stage vs DK, not losing bananas. If he loses control, he has to deal with that ungodly long, powerful range