This is the thread for discussion on the Yoshi v. Donkey Kong matchup.Matchup Summary:
How to fight DK:
I think DK can be a hard match up if you let him get momentum. This match up has to do with momentum and can go both ways.
From the very beginning you will want to try to camp with eggs and pivot grabs. As you do that try to figure out how he is approaching and think on how to punish it. So if you find out that the DK you are playing is mostly approaching with Bairs then you want to find out how to punish that. The best way to that is either a spot dodge or a pivot grab. If he is a approaching with SHed air dodges or empty SHs you should try to space him with Bairs. What you want to do in a match up is make your opponent get into bad positions and you punish it. For DK the best way to that is to camp him to force approaches. But you don't want to camp the whole match because eventually he will get inside and figure out your camp patterns. To avoid that mix it up with a few Dairs for damage and Bairs. Try to lower his shield so you can start poking his shield with Bairs and eggs. The best way to lower his shield is with eggs and consecutive hits like Dair. Once you see his shield getting weaker work you way inside and start using your fast moves like Nairs, jabs, tilts and bairs. Also occasional pivot grabs when inside. This match ups just requires you to stick to the basics and punish DKs lag. Now, KOing, KOing Dk is no easy task he is hard to gimp due to UpB and he is a very heavy character. So you are going to want to save your Upsmash, Uair and Fsmash. Now the hard part is landing the moves. Most of the time you should wait till DK is at about 125% before going for the KO because he is so heavy. The best way to land the KO is to punish his lag with a pivot Fsmash or hyphen Upsmash. But, there is other options that make KOing pretty easy in fact. If you know how to CG all you need to do is condition him with your CG so he try's to jump out then when he is at KO percentage. Start CGing him then before you get to the edge release him then dash SH Uair. If you are unsure about the release and CG you can look at my guide on CGing and release in the "how to hatch a healthy yoshi guide."
One last think don't try to force a KO because DK has a very fast SA Dk punch which will punish KO attempts. Also watch his range of his smash they WILL catch you off guard if your new to the match up.
Gimping DK:
Gimping DK can be easy if you know what your doing. His recovery is very different from other characters so you can't play it the same way as others. DKs recovery is a horizontal recovery which means he is going to be recovering horizontal of the stage. That makes his recovery pretty punishable with Dair. It can be a little tricky to land the Dair though. You will want to go directly above DK because hitting his arms will cause you to get hit instead of him. If you go directly above him with the Dair it will put him to low for UpB to recover. He lacks alot of vertical so he wont be recovering out of spikes at all. So take complete advantage of that. Also it is possible to land a run off Fair even while he is UpBing. Though this is hard and situational it is possible. You will have to know the timing to land a run off Fair in order to do this. To do this you will have to abuse the range of the Fair and go right below his UpB range (at his feet). The only way you can land it without you getting hit first is if you go right below his spinning arms.
btw: WATCH THE FOOTSTOOL after you land a Dair if he is at a lower percentage he can footstool you because the Dair wont spike him at low percentages. Due to the footstool DK will still be able to recover and you will be flying south. So only go for the Dair at higher percentages
