Zelda (SSB4)

Zelda in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Light Arrow
Tier	G (52-53)

Zelda (ゼルダ, Zelda) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. Her return to the series was announced in a Director's Room Miiverse post on December 26th, 2013, which also commemorated The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds being released in Japan on the same day. She is now completely separated from Sheik, no longer being able to transform mid-match.

Jun Mizusawa reprises her role as Zelda's voice actor, albeit via recycled voice clips from Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Zelda is ranked 52nd/53rd out of 54 on the tier list, tying her with Ganondorf and placing her in the G tier. This is similar to her placement in Brawl, where she was ranked 37th out of 38. Zelda has a solid combo game, with her possessing multiple attacks which can set up into other moves. When coupled with her overall high damage output, Zelda is capable of racking up a solid amount of damage at a respectably fast rate. Zelda also boasts an array of KOing options, most notably her forward smash, up smash, sweetspotted Lightning Kicks, up aerial and sweetspotted down aerial. By extension, Farore's Wind is a very potent and powerful KO move, reliably KOing any character below 100% while near the upper blast line, which makes it especially potent from out of shield when it can be applied. She also has a solid grab game, with her back throw being a solid KO option near the ledge and her down throw being a potent combo throw, even at higher percents.

However, Zelda also has a fair amount of detrimental weaknesses. Her mobility is very poor (especially on the ground) and her approach options are risky, making it very difficult for her to approach. While she does have a projectile in Din's Fire, it is very slow and easy to avoid, and if used in the air causes Zelda to go into freefall. When combined with her tall hurtbox and her floatiness, this results in her neutral game being very poor, with opponents easily being able to keep her out, avoid her threat zone and put her into disadvantage where she also struggles. Additionally, her endurance is poor because of her light weight and low falling speed, which can both lead to her getting KOed early. Zelda's KO potential is also inconsistent: her strongest attacks have a combination of multiple traits including slow startup lag, having short durations, having drastically weaker sourspots and/or having punishable amounts of lag. Lastly, she does not have a particularly effective out of shield game, as her best options either have slow frame data or mediocre range.

As a result, Zelda's strong punish game is not enough to make up for her poor mobility, endurance, neutral game, disadvantage state, approach potential and inconsistent moveset, resulting in Zelda struggling against most of the cast, much like she did in the previous two games. Ultimately, this meant that Zelda retained extremely minimal representation in competitive play much like the previous two games and in turn, extremely sparse results. However, Zelda has nevertheless managed to find a few instances of success, especially from Onpu, Rizeasu, and ven.

Attributes

Zelda is a tall, floaty lightweight with largely slow mobility. Although her traction is average and her air speed is slightly above-average, her walking, dashing and falling speeds; gravity; air acceleration; and jump and double jump are each below-average. As a result of her attributes, Zelda's endurance, neutral game, and approach are sub-par.

Zelda's playstyle is largely defensive, and benefits from her strong out of shield options and punishment potential. By extension, her special moveset supplements her defensive potential, with Farore's Wind being her most effective special move. It is a long-ranged teleport that grants intangibility, giving her a very reliable and, when used wisely, virtually unpredictable recovery option. In addition, Farore's Wind has become one of Zelda's most viable KOing options, especially from out of shield: its disappearing hitbox now launches opponents directly upward, which allows it to combo into its now stronger reappearing hitbox that, when sweetspotted, will KO any character below 100% while near the upper blast line.

Due to losing Transform, Zelda has received a new down special called Phantom Slash. Phantom Slash is a chargeable projectile that boasts both offensive and defensive capabilities: it possesses enough power to KO at reasonable percentages when fully charged, especially when edge-guarding, while the Phantom itself can block Zelda from incoming attacks. While descending from the upper corners of a stage, Zelda can also use it as a fairly effective way to ward off edge-guard attempts from an opponent standing at the edge. Nayru's Love is a reflector that also has loop hitboxes, which grant it offensive and defensive potential like Phantom Slash. Lastly, Din's Fire can be useful for long-ranged edge-guarding, which is further supplemented by its new sweetspot's high knockback growth.

The majority of Zelda's air game is a case of "high-risk, high-reward": her Lightning Kicks and down aerial require considerable precision to hit their sweetspots, yet each of these attacks boasts enough power to easily KO even super heavyweights when they are sweetspotted. By extension, sweetspotted down aerial boasts decent combo potential on grounded opponents, thanks to it being a very powerful meteor smash. Zelda's up aerial is the most damaging up aerial in the game, and while it also requires precision because of its short duration and fairly minimal horizontal range, its lack of sweetspots and sourspots makes it much more consistent at KOing in comparison to her Lightning Kicks and down aerial. Unlike Zelda's aforementioned aerials, neutral aerial is not suited for KOing outright, but has respectable utility: it has a decent damage output and loop hitboxes; can function as a follow-up from down throw at low percentages; can start combos when SHFF'd; and its last hit's very high knockback growth makes it useful for edge-guarding.

Zelda's ground game is very middling in comparison to her air game, but each of her grounded attacks has some degree of utility. Her grab game, in particular, is widely agreed as the best aspect of her ground game. Zelda's grabs have fairly long ranges despite not being tether grabs, and her pummel is among the most damaging in the game despite its moderately slow speed. Forward and back throws are useful for setting up edge-guards, yet each has a certain quirk: the former is among the damaging forward throws in the game, whereas the latter has KO potential while near the edge. Up and down throws possess combo potential, but vary noticeably in effectiveness. Up throw is decent for combos at low percentages, although it is especially useful against heavyweights and fast-fallers. However, it can also be followed up by an air, which can KO fast-fallers, especially with rage. Down throw has greater combo versatility in comparison, most notably in the form of its up aerial combo, which KOs lightweights as early as 92% and super heavyweights as early as 115%. Although DI can occasionally make the setup harder to perform, the effectiveness of its up aerial combo will remain largely intact so long as Zelda utilizes it with proper timing.

Neutral attack, up tilt, and especially down tilt are capable combo starters, thanks to their knockback values, launching angles, and low ending lag. Forward tilt and dash attack are decent for spacing and KOing, thanks to their strong sweetspots, while the latter also has one of the lowest amounts of start-up lag of any dash attack in the game. Zelda's forward and up smashes have impressive power and respectable shield pressuring potential thanks to their multiple hits, while the latter also has surprisingly low start-up lag for a smash attack. Down smash is Zelda's weakest smash attack, though it is nevertheless quite strong and, like neutral aerial, has decent utility. It hits on frame 5, which ties it with Pit, Dark Pit, Mario, Dr. Mario, and Ryu's down smashes as the second fastest smash attacks of any kind in the game. When coupled with its low ending lag and semi-spike angle, down smash can reliably punish rolls and set up edge-guards.

However, Zelda possesses a number of glaring weaknesses. She has the inconvenient combination of being tall, light, and floaty, which collectively make her susceptible to both combos and early KOs. Although Zelda's mobility has improved, it has only done so marginally at best, and thus remains overall sub-par. Despite her power, Zelda's KO potential is inconsistent: in addition to having very short durations, her strongest attacks are burdened with very weak sourspots (dash attack; down smash; Lightning Kicks; and down aerial), punishable amounts of lag (forward tilt; forward/up smashes; up aerial; and Phantom Slash), or both (Din's Fire and Farore's Wind). To further compound this, only up aerial has set-ups (up tilt, down tilt, and down throw) that are largely consistent past medium percentages.

Although Zelda's special moves can help her defensive presence when used wisely, they are nevertheless lacking in pressure. Short-ranged pressure can be problematic because Nayru's Love is rather laggy, while Phantom Slash is situational because of its ending lag, limited durability, poor range at low charges, and its susceptibility to reflection-based attacks. As a result, Zelda is forced to rely on her down smash instead of either of these options much more often than not. Conversely, Din's Fire is very unsuitable for long-ranged pressure because it is still very easy to evade, and is now burdened with a very weak sourspot. Lastly, Farore's Wind can cause Zelda to recover or evade pressure in the wrong direction if she recovers from a stage's slopes. Its high ending lag also makes her unable to move during her free-fall animation until more than a second has passed.

The overwhelming majority of Zelda's custom moves are among the worst in the game, owing to their inability to alleviate her weaknesses. However, Zelda does have two custom moves that are more beneficial than the default versions. Din's Flare deals consistent damage regardless of its charge, travels much faster, and has both a longer range and a faster detonation. However, it is much less maneuverable than Din's Fire. Phantom Breaker can break shields very easily and possesses KO potential like Phantom Slash, although it travels a set distance regardless of its charge, and its slightly lower damage output results in it KOing later than Phantom Slash. Aside from these, Zelda's remaining custom moves are situational at best: Phantom Strike is stronger but has poor range, while Din's Blaze is stronger and easier to control, but is even slower, and Farore's Windfall can meteor smash on the second hit, but completely loses its KO potential even beyond Sudden Death.

Overall, Zelda cannot rely on heavy stage or shield pressure, and thus must rely on either reading and baiting or playing defensively. Both of these playstyles' purpose is to punish opponents with her effective out of shield game to start combos, utilize her down throw's up aerial combo for KOing, or set up an edge-guard before attempting to score a KO. However, her poor approach, mobility, and neutral game hinder her ability to escape rushdowns and pressure, while her heavy reliance on sweetspots makes her akin to a glass cannon.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Due to her status as the second-lowest-ranked character in Brawl, Zelda received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition to SSB4, being buffed overall. However, those buffs weren't enough to improve her standing compared to the rest of the cast. Farore's Wind is the most notable buff that she received; in addition to being a much safer recovery, it is now a risky but potent KO option, especially from out of shield, thanks to various hitbox and knockback adjustments. The removal of meteor canceling greatly improves down aerial's reliability off stage. Zelda's new down special, Phantom Slash, is a fairly strong projectile with a decent amount of utility: it is a capable edge-guarding option, helps her cover almost all edge get-up options, can protect and/or enable her to attack from behind the Phantom itself, and boasts KO potential when fully charged. Din's Fire now has a powerful sweetspot placed in the inner part of the explosion. Zelda's KO potential was also improved outside of the aforementioned attacks thanks to beneficial hitbox changes: her forward tilt and dash attack can now KO at high percentages to compensate for the loss of their combo potential, while her forward and up smashes possess stronger KO potential.

As a result of the removal of hitstun canceling, Zelda's combo game has also noticeably improved: neutral attack's angle adjustments make it a better set-up option at low percentages, up tilt's lower damage output and increased speed make it a reliable combo option, neutral aerial's multihit adjustments make it better at damage racking and follow-ups, and down throw's increased knockback and altered angle make it a reliable combo starter and KO set-up into up aerial and back aerial at high percentages.

However, Zelda also received noticeable nerfs. The most notable is the removal of her ability to Transform into Sheik, which is further compounded by the latter having been significantly buffed in the transition from Brawl to SSB4. Outside of this, most of Zelda's direct nerfs have been applied to her hitbox sizes and frame data: up and down smash have much shorter ranges, with the former in particular having less utility and being slower, while the latter has slightly more startup and has a weaker front hit. Lightning Kicks have weaker sweetspots and are drastically laggier, preventing her from being actionable or auto-canceling in a short hop. This massively worsens their risk and greatly hinders their use in neutral. Din's Fire is much less maneuverable and more inconsistent due to having a sourspot in the outer area of the explosion, making it worse as a zoning tool. While rage can compound her already strong KO power, her low weight prevents her from consistently building up a high amount of rage, and it worsens her already poor endurance. While her combo game is stronger, she is also easier to combo, not only due to the aforementioned removal of hitstun canceling but also because of her faster fall speed and gravity.

Overall, Zelda's much better combo game supplements her stronger out of shield game. However, she is still burdened with a poor approach and neutral game, owing to the buffs to her mobility being marginal at best (especially since many other characters also had their mobility improved to varying degrees), while she also received significant nerfs to some of her key moves in the previous game. While she overall greatly benefits from the changes to Smash 4's mechanics, they were not enough to offset her weaknesses. As a result, she is still considered to be one of the worst characters in the game.

Aesthetics

• Due to the aesthetic used in SSB4, Zelda's overall color scheme is significantly more vibrant. Her accessories, including her crown, epaulettes, belt, and jewelry, are now a metallic gold, and the jewels on said accessories are now properly modeled as opposed to being meshed onto her model. Her hair is now a bronze color instead of a dark brown. Her dress bodice appears to have a more velvet-like texture than a leather-like texture, and her gloves and skirt now have a more satin-like appearance. Her skirt is also now more flowing and sports a longer train. The tapestry in front of her dress is now indigo with a gold border instead of gray with a green border, similar to the one sported by her Ocarina of Time incarnation's (her design in Melee) dress.
• Zelda's greaves are more pronounced. The Triforce studs on her boots' buckles have also been removed, and the buckles are no longer merged with her soles. These changes are unique to SSB4.
• Zelda has received two new alternate costumes, one of them being based on her appearance in either A Link to the Past or A Link Between Worlds (which would eventually inspire her current design in the next game). Her red alternate costume now depicts her as wearing gloves like her default color (in Brawl, her red costume did not have gloves for some reason, even though her other colors, including her default, still do). Her Ocarina of Time-based alternate costume is now colored purple instead of pink.
• Zelda is significantly more expressive. She now scowls while using most attacks and when hanging from an edge; smiles during one of her victory poses; winces in pain after tripping; appears alarmed while teetering; and winces depressingly while laying prone/supine.
• Most attacks have updated visual and sound effects.
• Sidestep, air dodge and up taunt's animations have changed.
• Zelda vocalizes less frequently while jumping, a trait shared with many other characters except Falco.
• Zelda's previously unused damage yells from Brawl's Sound Test are now heard when taking high knockback.

Attributes

• Zelda walks faster (0.8 → 0.87).
• Zelda dashes faster (1.224 → 1.3). Her initial dash is notably faster (1.25 → 1.6).
• Zelda's air speed is faster (0.987 → 1.04).
• Zelda's air acceleration is significantly lower (0.1 → 0.065), noticeably hindering her aerial approach and retreat options.
• Zelda falls noticeably faster (1.13 → 1.35), going from the fourth lowest out of 39 characters to only the 13th lowest out of 58 characters. This improves her vertical endurance but makes her more susceptible to combos.
  • Her fast-falling speed is significantly faster (1.582 → 2.16), going from the fourth lowest out of 39 characters to only the 13th lowest out of 58 characters.
• Zelda's gravity is greater (0.067 → 0.071), although it is lower relative to the cast, going from the ninth lowest out of 39 characters to the 6th lowest out of 58 characters.
• Zelda's double jump grants much more height (height multiplier: 0.86 → 1x).
• Rolls have less ending lag (FAF 32 → 31).
• Rolls have a shorter duration (frames 4-19 → 4-17).
• Air dodge has less startup (frame 4 → 3) and ending lag (FAF 50 → 34).
• Spot dodge has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 2-20 → 3-18) and it has more ending lag (FAF 26 → 28).
• Due to the limitations of the Nintendo 3DS' processing power, Zelda is no longer connected to Sheik via Transform or character selection screen input.
  • As transformations took a long time to load in Brawl, this meant Zelda got a much more reliable down special which also functions as an attack.
  • However, she can no longer access Sheik's significantly better mobility and combo potential to alleviate her own weaknesses.
• Zelda's item toss is stronger (0.8 → 0.95).
  • However, the removal of glide tossing hinders her approach with items.
• None of Zelda's moves use the electric effect anymore. All the moves that previously did (neutral attack, up tilt, dash attack, forward smash (final hit), up smash, neutral aerial (final hit), forward aerial (sweetspot), back aerial (sweetspot), down aerial (clean hit), pummel and down throw) now use the newly introduced magic effect. This reduces their hitlag and allows them to damage Olimar's yellow Pikmin.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Neutral attack deals more damage (2% (hits 1-3)/6% (total) → 3% (hits 1-2)/5% (hit 3)/11% (total)), without full compensation on the final hit's knockback (10 (base), 160 (scaling) → 40/95).
    • This reduces its follow-up potential at higher percents.
  • Combined with neutral attack's more serious damage, the changes to shields noticeably improve the move's safety on shield, with it now being safe on shield against a majority of the cast.
  • The first two hits have altered set knockback on Zelda's hand and magic burst (30 (hand)/7 (burst) → 40/30), and they now send opponents up and toward Zelda (361° → 140°). This makes the move connect more reliably.
    • However, these new angles combined with the final hits' higher knockback hinder the move's ability to trip and jab lock.
  • The arm hitboxes are larger (2.5u/3u (hits 1-2), 2.5u/3.5u (hit 3) → 3.2u (hits 1-2), 3.6u (hit 3)), and they are now static hitboxes positioned lower at the same height as the burst hitbox, improving their ability to hit grounded opponents.
    • However, this also gives them less range above Zelda.
  • The first two hits' burst hitbox is smaller (4.5u → 4u).
  • The inner body hitbox has been removed, giving the move less range inside Zelda.
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has less startup lag (frame 12 → 10) with a shorter total duration (FAF 40 → 38).
  • Forward tilt has a shorter duration (frames 12-14 → 10-11).
  • The outer hand sweetspot has been moved farther out (x offset: 3 → 3.5), slightly improving its range.
    • However, the inner hand hitbox is no longer also a sweetspot, further reducing the sweetspot's range point-blank. Interestingly, it still uses the same sound effect as the sweetspot, despite behaving identically to the other sourspot.
  • The hand hitboxes now launch opponents horizontally (110° → 361°). This improves its KO potential near the side blast zones, but removes its ability to set up juggles, as well as hindering its KO potential near the upper blast zone.
  • Forward tilt deals less damage (13% (hand)/12% (arm)/11% (body) → 12% (outer hand)/10% (inner hand/arm)), hindering its KO potential.
  • Forward tilt's body hitbox has been removed, reducing the move's range inside of Zelda, despite the arm hitbox being moved closer to her (x offset: 0 → -1).
    • The move now entirely uses slash effects, no longer having a hit with a normal effect and punch sound effect..
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has less startup lag (frame 10 → 7) and much less ending lag (FAF 48 → 30). The hitboxes have a slightly shorter duration (frames 10-24 → 7-18), but are longer relative to the move's total duration.
  • Up tilt launches opponents at a higher and inward angle (70° → 100°).
  • Up tilt deals less damage (11% → 7.2%) and knockback (65 (base), 105 (scaling) → 45/110), significantly hindering its KO potential.
    • However, when combined with the move's greatly increased speed, altered launch angle, and the changes to hitstun canceling and directional influence, this significantly improves the move's combo potential.
  • The arm and shoulder hitboxes are smaller (4.5u/4u → 3u/3u).
  • The arm hitbox is positioned closer to Zelda (x offset: 2 → 1).
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt now always launches opponents vertically (270° (leg/body/ground foot)/80° (aerial foot) → 80°).
    • This allows Zelda to follow up with aerials, especially at mid percents, as well as making the move slightly safer on hit due to it forcing the opponent into the air.
    • This means that the move is no longer capable of tripping, significantly hindering its setup potential at lower percents.
    • This also significantly hinders the move's ability to lead into itself (especially against floatier characters), as well as hindering its edgeguarding potential.
  • Zelda now gets pushed backward after landing multiple down tilts, which, along with the move's altered angle, further hinders its ability to chain into itself.
  • Down tilt has a lower extra trip chance (40% → 20%), although its altered launch angle makes it incapable of tripping regardless.
  • Down tilt deals less damage (8% (leg)/7% (foot) → 5.5%), and it has increased knockback scaling (80 → 120), hindering its damage-racking potential at lower percents and its follow-up potential at higher percents, especially when combined with its new angle.
    • However, this also improves its follow-up potential below higher percents.
  • Down tilt now uses one smaller extended hitbox (5u/4.5u/4u/4u → 3.6u) which is positioned closer to Zelda than the previous foot hitbox (y offset: 6.5 → x offset: 6) which overall has less rage than the previous hitboxes. The move has a smaller disjoint and no longer covers Zelda's body.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has a shorter duration (frames 6-8 (clean)/9-13 (late) → 6-7/8-10), reducing the move's overall range as its animation was unchanged.
  • Dash attack has more ending lag (FAF 38 → 40).
  • The clean hit's sweetspot has a higher hitlag multiplier (1x → 1.2x), but still has less hitlag due to losing the electric effect.
  • The clean hit's sweetspot is now a static hitbox positioned directly in front of Zelda's hands rather than on her head.
    • This makes the sweetspot easier to land on grounded opponents to the sides of Zelda.
    • However, it is much smaller (4.8u → 2.2u), which, along with its new position, gives it much less range behind and above Zelda. It also no longer increases the move's total range due to now being completely within the sourspot's range.
  • The clean hit's sourspot is smaller (7u → 5u). This reduces its vertical range, but its horizontal range was compensated due to now being an extended hitbox (z offset: 12 → 7.8 to 13.8).
  • The late hit is now one extended hitbox instead of consisting of a sweetspot and sourspot.
  • The launch angle is now uniformly diagonal (90°/361° (sweetspots/sourspots) → 50°).
    • The clean hit's sweetspot has higher base knockback (70 → 85), which improves its KO potential when used near the horizontal blast zone.
      • However, this hinders its overall KO potential, especially from center stage or farther from the ledge.
    • The clean hit's sourspot has altered knockback (50 (base), 70 (scaling) → 80/50), overall having worse KO potential unless it is used extremely close to the horizontal blast zone.
      • However, the higher base knockback now makes it safe on hit at all percents.
    • The late hit deals less damage (8% (head)/7% (hands) → 6%). Its knockback was not fully compensated (20 (base), 70 (scaling) → 80/50), which overall hinders its KO potential, especially when used far from the horizontal blast zone.
      • It can no longer trip or lock.
      • However, the late hit's higher base knockback makes it safe on hit at all percents.
• Forward smash:
  • The hitboxes are positioned marginally higher (y offset: 9.07 → 9.1).
  • Forward smash has smaller hitboxes (3.5u/3.5u/4.3u/5u → 4.2u/4.5u (hits 1-4), 4.5u/4.5u/5.7u/6.7u → 5.5u/6u (hit 5)), and because the move only has two hitboxes per hit instead of four, it does not reach as far into Zelda (z offset: 3/7/11/16 (8/16 (hits 1-4)/9.5/16 (hit 5)), reducing its range, especially behind Zelda.
  • Forward smash's loop hits' angles (30°/45°/60° → 25°/165°) and set knockback (30/40/50/80 → 40/50) have been altered. When combined with the weakening of SDI, this makes forward smash connect more reliably despite the looping hits' higher SDI multiplier (0.5x → 1x).
  • The final hit deals more knockback (30 (base), 105 (scaling) → 37/110), improving its KO potential.
  • Forward smash has much more ending lag (FAF 40 → 50).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has more startup lag (frame 6 → 9). This particularly hinders Zelda's out of shield game as she is no longer capable of punishing -6 or -7 moves on shield, unless she powershields.
  • Up smash only has 7 looping hits instead of 10 (frame 6/8/10/12/14/16, 23/25/27/29 → 9/12/15/18, 25/28/31), reducing the number of active frames. The number of frames between the first hit and the launching hit is unchanged, but at the cost of increased gaps between its hits.
  • The first set of looping hits deals more damage (1% → 2%), while the second set deals slightly less (1% → 0.8%). Overall, the move deals slightly more maximum damage despite having fewer hits (15% → 15.4%).
  • The looping hits have much smaller hitboxes (5u/5u/5.5u/5.5u → 3.5u/4.2u/3.5u/3.5u).
  • The upper loop and side hitboxes are positioned lower (y offset: 21/18 → 18/17). This reduces its vertical range to the point where the looping hits can no longer hit opponents above Zelda on the side Battlefield platforms, while not giving them more range below her due to their smaller size.
  • The side hitboxes are positioned closer to Zelda, reducing the move's horizontal range (z offset: 6 → 5).
    • Altogether, these changes greatly hinder up smash's use as an Out of Shield option, as its range has been drastically reduced.
  • The final hit deals more knockback (20 (base), 210 (scaling) → 24/214), improving its KO potential.
  • The loop hits have a higher SDI multiplier (0.1x → 0.5x), but have less knockback (60/50/60/60 (set), 100 (scaling) → 40/105). The upper loop hit now uses an auto-link angle (270° → 366°). Overall, these preserve the looping hits' consistency given the changes in their size and positions.
  • The second set of looping hits and the final hit have a higher hitlag multiplier (0.5x, 1x → 1x, 2x), giving them more hitlag despite no longer having an electric effect.
  • Up smash has more ending lag (FAF 57 → 64), with the move no longer being able to lead into itself at lower percents.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-6 (front)/12-14 (back) → 5-6/13-14).
  • Zelda's right leg is no longer intangible on frames 4-14.
  • The front hit has less knockback scaling (95 → 86) hindering its KO potential.
  • The back hit has more knockback scaling (85 → 96) improving its KO potential.
  • The leg hitboxes no longer semi-spike (20° → 361°), noticeably hindering their edgeguarding and KO potential.
    • However, this also allows the leg hitbox to trip opponents, despite the move having a lower trip chance (30% → 20%).
  • Down smash has smaller hitboxes (5u/5u/4u → 4.2u/3u). The leg hitbox now uses an extended hitbox, although this does not fully compensate for the removal of the upper leg hitbox.
  • Down smash now uses static hitboxes, which do not reach as far as the previous hitboxes (foot hitbox x/y/z offsets: -2/7/0 → 0/3/12.5 (front)/0/3/11 (back)). This gives down smash less range overall, as well as hindering its ability to hit opponents in the z-axis.
    • However, this does also give the front hit more consistent horizontal range.
  • Down smash has less ending lag (FAF 40 → 38).

Aerial attacks

• All aerials except down aerial have shorter initial auto-cancel windows (frames 1-5 (neutral)/1-7 (forward)/1-4 (back)/1-13 (up) → 1-3 (neutral/forward)/1-2 (back)/1-4 (up)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial's loop hits no longer deal consistent damage (2% → 2.5% (front)/1.5% (back)). This improves its damage-racking ability if the opponent is in front of Zelda, but worsens it if hit behind her.
    • The front hit now has higher priority, effectively increasing the move's damage output on average.
  • The loop hits have larger hitboxes compared to the previous hand hitboxes (3u → 4.7u).
    • However, the loop hits no longer have a head and body hitbox, giving them less vertical range.
  • The loop hits use a uniform auto-link angle (150° (hands)/270° (head)/90° (body) → 366°) and set knockback (75 (hands)/50 (head)/120 (body) → 75) and knockback scaling (100 (hands)/90 (head/body) → 100), making them connect more reliably and improving the move's follow-up potential.
  • Neutral aerial has more ending lag (FAF 50 → 51) and a longer animation (49 frames → 57).
  • Neutral aerial has more landing lag (12 frames → 19).
  • The final hit's head and body hitboxes have lower knockback scaling (120 → 110).
• Lightning Kicks:
  • Lightning Kicks' animations have slightly changed. Zelda now leans and faces away from the direction where she kicks, and has her arms positioned differently. These new animations make her hurtbox narrower.
    • However, these animations are also longer (49 frames → 62), increasing the amount of time Zelda cannot grab ledges after performing a Lightning Kick.
  • The sweetspots have a slightly larger hitbox (1.7u → 1.9u), making them slightly easier to land.
  • The changes to shields significantly improve Lightning Kicks' safety and effectiveness on shield, especially the sweetspots, which are no longer burdened against shielding opponents by their extreme hitlag.
  • The introduction of frame canceling benefits Lightning Kicks due to their sweetspots' extremely high hitlag, which can give them much less landing lag when they connect if timed and spaced properly.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has more startup lag (frame 8 → 9).
  • Forward aerial has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 53), with Zelda no longer being actionable again in a short hop.
  • Forward aerial has slightly more landing lag (22 frames → 23).
  • Forward aerial auto-cancels much later (frame 25 → 50), no longer doing so in a short hop.
    • Altogether, these changes significantly hinder forward aerial's spacing potential and safety on hit.
  • The sweetspot has lower base knockback (35 → 24), hindering its KO potential.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has more startup lag (frame 5 → 6).