Editing Toon Link (SSBU)

Toon Link has received a notable mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition from ''SSB4'' to ''Ultimate''. Many of his standard attacks have been improved, but the general pace of ''Ultimate'', combined with the worsening of his camping tools, has annulled his improvements to an extent. As a result, Toon Link has been slightly nerfed overall.

Several of Toon Link's attacks, which he uses the Master Sword, have been notably buffed, alleviating one of his weaker points from ''SSB4''. Particularly, Toon Link now boasts a vastly buffed ground game: [[neutral attack]]'s first two hits can now [[lock]], and the third hit now has the tech-chasing ability his adult counterpart has. [[Forward tilt]] has less ending lag, all hitboxes send opponents in front of him, and its hitboxes can now hit behind Toon Link. The changes to the [[Sakurai angle]] allow [[down tilt]] to launch aerial opponents lower, improving its tech chasing potential. [[Dash attack]] is much faster, has more range and less endlag, and the sweetspots out-prioritize the sourspot, turning it into a respectable combo starter at low percentages. [[Up smash]] is more consistent on landing the sweetspot, whereas [[down smash]] now has consistent KO potential on both sides of the move instead of pulling opponents into a second hit.

Toon Link's air game, while seeing less buffs, has also become more useful; [[neutral aerial]] has more range, [[forward aerial]] can once again autocancel if performed in a short hop, [[back aerial]] is faster and has regained some of its combo potential, and [[up aerial]] is notably much safer to use due to its altered animation. Finally, Toon Link's Spin Attack has received various improvements, with the grounded version now being one of the best out-of-shield options in the game due to it being much faster and gaining KO potential. In contrast, the aerial version's power and safety have both improved, and it will now always send opponents in front of Toon Link.

However, Toon Link also received some noticeable nerfs. One of his biggest nerfs was to his [[forward smash]]; the move no longer has a second hit, while its single hit instead is slightly slower, deals less aggregate damage, possesses no mixup or spacing potential, and has a debatably worse hitbox that fails to strike short opponents or ones hanging on an edge. His other major nerf was to his {{b|Bomb|Link}}s, which no longer beat weak projectiles and instead bounce off them; this massively worsens their potential in trade and projectile situations. Other nerfs to his [[camping]] ability include his item throws having more ending lag, which worsens his combo game via his Bombs; and his [[grab aerial]] now bouncing off of the first projectile or hurtbox it makes contact with, instead of piercing through. Aside from forward smash, a few of his sword-based moves also received some nerfs. [[Up tilt]] has slightly inferior combo potential at high percentages due to the changes to knockback, [[up smash]] has fewer active frames, and [[back aerial]]'s already minimal KO potential has been almost totally removed in favor of restoring its combo potential.

The universal changes to gameplay mechanics are overall mixed for Toon Link. The reduced landing lag makes it easier for him to combo and safer to land if his aerials hit. The ability to [[Dash-canceling|use any attack out of a run]] also allows Toon Link more access to his now respectable grounded game. On the other hand, while the changes to [[shieldstun]] make his grounded moveset much safer, it also means shielding opponents are now more likely to punish mispaced aerials as easily. The nerfs to shield grabbing alleviate the negative changes from shieldstun, but combined with other characters also having reduced landing lag, and the changes to shieldstun, this notably worsens his grab game, despite his grabs' much lower ending lag. Finally, the universal increase to mobility further contributes to Toon Link's grounded game (due to his faster [[walk]]ing and [[dash]]ing speeds) and allows him to now combo out of his [[Hero's Bow]] when uncharged, but also allows more mobile opponents to close in on the distance to him and/or stay away from him easier.