Brawler Arsenal

Grounded Attacks

Neutral Attacks

Neutral Attacks

Tap or hold the neutral attack input for the first two swings, a horizontal hammer swing into a scooping follow-up. After these first two swings, inputting neutral attack again results in a spinning hammer attack that inflicts rapid minor hits before finishing with a launching attack. The hammer’s spin can be extended by holding down the button during the third attack, though holding it too long runs the risk of allowing the victim to escape the last hit.

This sequence is powerful, but has the distinction of being one of the slowest neutral attack combos. King Dedede’s grab connects faster than his first neutral attack. Keep this in mind when thinking about how to go after people with Dedede.

Dash Attack

King Dedede flops from a run or dash into a belly slide, hitting as he skids with his hands and head. This is slow to hit and laggy afterward, but powerful.

Defensive Attacks

Tilts

Side Tilt

The king juts his barrel-hammer forward and spins it rapidly, with a poking attack that’s like a more powerful version of the neutral attack combo’s third move. The horizontal reach for this attack is very good, with the hammer’s spinning head sticking around for a moment when extended. You can combo this attack after jumping in with a last-second neutral air attack, or after popping someone up with down tilt.

Up Tilt

King Dedede leans back, then delivers a painful arcing headbutt, covering upward angles starting at up-back and rotating to straight forward at the end. The king’s head is intangible during the headbutt, increasing the chances it’ll win out against whatever the enemy is sticking out. Keep in mind that this hits behind King Dedede first; this gives it some use covering his backside, like hitting at people who’ve rolled past Dedede, or for use as a last-second backturned attack out of a forward dash or run.

Down Tilt

While crouching, King Dedede luxuriates in a relaxed-looking pose. From here, he can roll forward with one of his quickest attacks, a tumbling bump. At the end, he returns to his reclining posture briefly before being able to do anything else.

Hitting faster than King Dedede’s neutral attacks or his grab animation, down tilt is important in his arsenal, even though it’s very laggy and likely to lead to punishment if it’s dodged or shielded. On a successful hit, the opponent can be smacked again immediately, depending on their position.

Smashes

Side Smash

King Dedede hefts his wooden hammer for an extremely slow but extremely strong overhead smash. The hammer’s hitbox begins when it’s swinging vertically over Dedede’s head, but reaches full power while aimed up-forward. It does full damage from here until slamming into the ground, at which point a secondary impact tremor hitbox springs up around where it hits, giving the attack good reach (if weaker damage) past the hammer’s head.

This is one of the game’s slowest attacks, with even the uncharged version taking over half a second to strike, and the fully charged version striking in a second and a half (if it’s released as soon as it’s fully charged). It’s hard to land this in the heat of combat against quicker fighters (which is almost everyone), but if you do, the damage and knockback are staggering. If foes try to block it, it’ll surely shatter their shield! The long windup makes this a rare case where, if you’re going to use side smash at all, you might consider fully charging it. It’s not surprising anyone anyway, so adding an extra second to the total duration (for the possible benefit of destroying someone with a 35% damage single hit) is less costly for Dedede than it is for most fighters.

Up Smash

Starting with a scooping motion forward, King Dedede raises the hammer from ground level and swoops it over his head. It hits to the front first, before sweeping up overhead and then behind, eventually covering all angles except downward ones. Whether enemies get hit in front, above, or behind, they’re launched off their feet, into a position that allows for follow-ups as damage accumulates. The king whirls with the hammer held low, smacking both sides with a forceful clear-out spin. He hits in front first before twirling to hit behind. For a forward hit, this is a bit faster than the front-facing portion of up smash—it’s also a bit faster to make it to the backswing—though it doesn’t cover upward angles as up smash does while Dedede turns around. Down smash is strictly a floor-level swipe.

Down Smash

The king whirls with the hammer held low, smacking both sides with a forceful clear-out spin. He hits in front first before twirling to hit behind. For a forward hit, this is a bit faster than the front-facing portion of up smash—it’s also a bit faster to make it to the backswing—though it doesn’t cover upward angles as up smash does while Dedede turns around. Down smash is strictly a floor-level swipe.

Grabs

Grabs

King Dedede’s grab attempts are normal for a heavyweight, but slow compared to most fighters. With his neutral attack being one of the slowest in the game, you have to threaten with down tilts, hopping attacks, and high-bouncing Gordo Throws to coach challengers into being susceptible to throws. When you’re seeking to pull in enemies and toss them, remember to think of Inhale as a longer-reaching throw you can also do in midair.

After a grab, throwing someone either forward or backward can also strike any other fighters in the way. Up and down throw both offer different combo opportunities. After an up throw, you can usually get at least a leaping up air, and down throw can lead to an immediate up tilt juggle before you go for a short-hopping follow-up.

Aerial Attacks

Aerials

Neutral Air Attack

The king extends all his limbs and falls, using his bulk as a weapon. This attack’s hitbox is essentially a circle around King Dedede’s midsection, effective against grounded foes whether the king lands in front of or behind them. Immediately after he jumps at a grounded opponent with neutral air attack and lands, a combo is possible by catching them with side tilt or up tilt. It’s possible to juggle immediately after a fast-falling neutral air attack with two up tilt juggles back-to-back, before short-hopping to finish the juggle with something like up air attack.

Forward Air Attack

In midair, King Dedede brings the hammer down with a chopping attack, first hitting at an up-forward angle, then swinging to down-forward, covering all forward directions. The hammer here has more range than neutral air attack, making it better for pursuing a target from farther way. It just requires a bit more lead-in time for the hit.

Back Air Attack

King Dedede whirls backward in midair, bring the hammer around for a sideways swing. This doesn’t have any upward or downward slashing coverage, and hits laterally to his back. It’s slower to hit than forward air, and linear, but the damage is higher, and the knockback is much more useful. When short-hopping backward at enemies to use this as a ground-level poke, be sure to use a manual short hop so you can perform back air slightly later, since an input of back on the control stick plus Attack+Jump results in a short-hopping back air that will whiff right above most fighters’ heads.

Up Air Attack

Dedede extends the hammer straight up while spinning the handle, rotating the hammer head rapidly. The extended handle has a narrow hitbox on it, but the star of the show is the hammer head above. This doesn’t provide any use against ground-level enemies or enemies on the same plane in midair, but it’s great to harass and juggle those at higher altitude. After somehow launching an enemy, keep them aloft with well-aimed up airs right into them, like after hurling them with up throw or juggling them with a couple up tilts.

Down Air Attack

Winding up by pulling the hammer back over his shoulder while falling, King Dedede then swings the weapon straight down, slamming anyone underneath and knocking them off balance. This hard-hitting move will certainly pummel anyone in the way, and Dedede’s hammer won’t lose out to other attacks on clean hits, but the lead-in is quite long, so this can be hard to aim effectively.

Special Moves

Specials

Neutral Special: Inhale

King Dedede has trained long and hard to emulate the skills and abilities of his feared nemesis, Kirby. He opens wide for this attack, creating a vortex that pulls in anyone directly in front. With a foe held captive in his gullet, King Dedede can move and jump (although at greatly reduced speed) to seek a desired regurgitation point. Another Attack or Special input makes him spit them back out (he does it automatically should enough time elapse). The captive is spat out as a star projectile, taking damage and seriously hurting anyone they’re flung into.

Whether on the ground or in the air, this essentially works like a special-move throw with terrific reach. Think of it as a long-reaching throw or as an unshieldable attack. It can be used for the raw damage whenever available, but it can be made even more potent on purpose by launching enemies into each other, or by spitting them off ledges. Even better, near stage edges with gaps underneath the level, Inhale someone, hop backward off the stage, spit them under the stage, then quickly use your double-jump and up special to return to safety! This can make it difficult or impossible for them to recover.

It’s not just enemies that can be transformed into shots for Dedede. Incoming projectiles can also be scarfed up using Inhale, and they’re immediately returned to sender with a little extra mustard (though it’s probably not actual mustard). You can’t choose to lumber around to pick a particular firing spot when you Inhale an enemy’s shot; it’s fired back right away.

Side Special: Gordo Throw

King Dedede produces a Gordo—a cute, spiny creature that looks like a spiked ball with eyes. He then swats the Gordo like a baseball, knocking it on a bouncing path forward. (Don’t worry about the Gordo. They’re invincible. Ask Kirby.) The Gordo bounces several times moving forward, then disappears. It also disappears prematurely after bouncing off a target. The Gordo’s damage diminishes a bit as it travels. Only one Gordo can be active on-screen at a time. Attempting side special again while a Gordo bounces makes Dedede perform the Gordo-swatting swing (worth 10 base damage if it hits a foe), just without the Gordo toss beforehand.

Immediately after you start a side special, control stick input dictates the kind of bounce Dedede sends the Gordo on. With the regular side special input (left or right plus Special), the Gordo bounces far and low, traveling the longest distance. (To ensure you get this type of bounce rather than inadvertently triggering the other ones, keep holding left or right after the command.)

For higher bounces and less travel, input side special, then immediately hold down on the control stick. This Gordo bounces forward about two-thirds the distance of a “normal” side special Gordo toss.

Finally, for the highest-bouncing, shortest-traveling Gordo, input side special, then hold up on the control stick. This spiked ball doesn’t travel far from King Dedede at all, with the highest bounces of the three versions.

The different Gordo versions are basically skewed toward offense or defense. A longer-bouncing Gordo is obviously a bigger threat to people far away, while the Gordo that bounces near Dedede can act as a temporary shield, deterring frontal enemy assaults for a moment and giving him a chance to start up direct offense of his own.

While a Gordo bounces, there’s a chance a sporting foe will try to expertly time attacks or countermoves to reflect the bouncing spiked balls right back at the king. You can get caught up in a volleying game here, batting it back with your own attacks if you like (any physical attack will do, as long as it swats the Gordo before the Gordo’s spikes hit; you don’t have to use the side special hammer swing).

And there’s an extra twist. Remember that Inhale allows Dedede to pull in and eject projectiles. This includes his own Gordos! This can be done before or after a Gordo is reflected back by an opponent. One curveball trick is to use a high-bouncing “up” Gordo so it stays near Dedede, seemingly as a defensive stalling tactic. Then Inhale the close-range Gordo and send it bouncing ahead unexpectedly fast, with its damage boosted from having been Inhaled!

Finally, it’s important to note that a Gordo may stick into vertical surfaces, in which case it stops bouncing and becomes a motionless hitbox for a couple seconds before disappearing. Midstage, this is mostly incidental, but you can put it to intentional use when edge-guarding against enemies. If a stage’s edge ends in a sheer cliff, with a wall leading straight down (rather than a gap leading under the stage), bravely step off the stage, immediately turn and knock a Gordo into the wall, then double-jump and float/Super Dedede Jump back to the ledge. If someone tries to recover from a low angle along the wall, they’ll be impeded by the spiked Gordo!

Up Special: Super Dedede Jump

The king squats, then launches himself high, quickly gaining lots of altitude. The trajectory of this super jump can be altered by holding left or right during ascent. With no further input, Dedede transitions to a powerful diving attack at the apex. He hits hard on the way down, smashing grounded foes with such force that they’re planted into the dirt. That doesn’t last long, since his ground impact is a secondary hitbox, launching them away if the dive-bomb connects. Depending on the angle and the enemies’ positions, they might just get launched away by the diving airborne hit, or only grazed by the impact tremor on the ground.

As an attack, Super Dedede Jump is highly telegraphed and relatively easy for enemies to see coming, though it’s extremely strong if it hits. It’s best for literally leaping into the fray when a few other brawlers are tangling midstage, not paying attention to Dedede. (Send a midbouncing Gordo their way first for good measure.)

For recovery purposes, you don’t want the dive-bombing portion of Super Dedede Jump. You can avoid the plummeting attack by tapping up or the Special button before Dedede slams into the ground. Whenever you up/special cancel Super Dedede Jump, the king immediately enters a helpless drifting state to return to the ground. Note that this can be done anytime after the ascent and during the dive-bombing portion; you can start Super Dedede Jump and cancel it at the apex, drifting all the way down (the best option when recovering from offstage, where the only concern is vertical/horizontal distance gained), or you can let some of the plummeting happen, then cancel it before impact. There’s a little bit of landing lag after drifting down from a canceled Super Dedede Jump plunge no matter when you do it, but beware that the lag is especially long if you cancel the diving attack just before it slams into the ground. It’s basically like voluntarily knocking yourself down, without floored intangibility to provide any brief reprieve.

Down Special: Jet Hammer

It turns out the hammer isn’t just a hammer. There’s a rocket engine inside, the better to power up this special hammer swing. Hold the initial input, and Dedede begins charging Jet Hammer’s power. Release for the swing. While charging, King Dedede can still move around, with about the same mobility as when an enemy is sucked in with Inhale but not yet ejected. This means you can start charging Jet Hammer, then jump and release to hit someone in midair, for example.

Charging longer increases power and knockback. You know it’s fully charged when King Dedede’s determined stare at his enemies becomes an exasperated stare at you, the player! At this point, the hammer release delivers a staggeringly strong 40% damage hit, but if you continue to charge at full power, King Dedede slowly builds up damage on himself! Now you understand why he looks so concerned at max charge. When King Dedede’s own damage is at or above 100%, holding the fully charged Jet Hammer no longer adds to his pain.

Final Smash: Dede-Rush

With a Final Smash loaded and ready to go, the king attacks with his mightiest swing. Get a preferred target in your sights up close, and let the attack loose with a neutral Special input. The initial swing can hit multiple enemies, but it only draws one of them in for the full-damage cinematic, with King Dedede walling them off in a personal ring of pain!