Zelda (SSBU)
| Zelda in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate | |
|---|---|
 
| |
| Universe | The Legend of Zelda |
| Other playable appearances | in Melee in Brawl in SSB4 |
| Availability | Unlockable |
| Final Smash | Triforce of Wisdom |
| Tier | D+ (73) |
Zelda (ゼルダ, Zelda) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. She was confirmed as a playable character along with Sheik and the rest of veterans on June 12, 2018. Unlike the game's predecessors, she is unlockable instead of being available from the start. Zelda is classified as Fighter #17.
Ultimate breaks the streak of Zelda being voiced in the Smash series by Jun Mizusawa, who voiced the character in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Similar to fellow Zelda fighters Link and Ganondorf, Zelda has brand new voice clips provided by Ayumi Fujimura, who reprises her role from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds; it would be one of her last roles before her retirement in 2019. In the Japanese opening of World of Light, Fujimura provides a single line of spoken dialogue as Zelda; this line is dubbed in English by Brandy Kopp, who also voices Palutena.
Zelda is ranked 73rd out of 82 on the current tier list, placing her at the bottom of the D+ tier; a slight improvement from her 52nd/53rd out of 54 placement in SSB4 where she was tied with Ganondorf, and her best placement in the series. She has an abundance of KO options, with power comparable to or exceeding that of heavyweights, despite being a lightweight. Among them are several outstanding kill throws and Phantom Slash, a versatile zoning and trapping tool that can start or finish combos, force approaches and apply pressure by controlling space, namely in ledge trapping. Many of her strongest attacks come out surprisingly fast and have transcendent priority, tending to create favorable trades if not outright beating out the opponent. Several double as effective out-of-shield options, notoriously Farore's Wind, which is also one of the best recovery moves in the game, and her Lightning Kicks—the immense power of the latter, especially as aerials, makes them versatile finishers, giving Zelda the signature ability to convert into very early KOs without the use of smash attacks.
Despite these strengths, Zelda has many notable weaknesses. Her main finishers and safe-on-shield moves require precise sweetspots or spacing, weak sourspots that can even be punishable on hit, and/or high ending lag. Her mobility is among the worst in the game, which compounds the inconsistency of these moves. The hitboxes on several of her attacks are poor, limiting their utility and giving her especially poor defense with their transcendence; she lacks fast, low-committal projectiles herself, making her susceptible to being outcamped. She also has a limited number of moves and rather small or inconsistent windows to confirm into other moves, as some of her combo moves like down tilt and neutral aerial have unfavourable angles that make them inconsistent at starting and extending combos without the proper timing or percents. Thus, as Zelda relies heavily on the committal Phantom to secure damage and KOs, as well as to compensate for her mobility, approach options and pressure, she can crumble in stretches of combat where it is unfit to use. An unfavorable combination of tallness, floatiness, a lack of landing options and her light weight results in one of the worst disadvantage states and overall endurances in the game.
Overall, Zelda plays a decent zoning game and a strong trapping game, with tools for controlling space and KOing early, but her precise hitboxes and low mobility result in poor consistency and a weak neutral and disadvantage state, making her a glass cannon with a focus on precision. Zelda is rarely represented in tournaments, but there have been dedicated players, such as Yn from Japan, Naskino in France, and Ven in the United States, with respectable results.