Link (SSBB)

Link (, Link) returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl at E3 2006. He was one of the original 4 members to be confirmed as returning playable character at E3 2006, with the other three being Mario, Kirby, and Pikachu.

Akira Sasanuma, who previously voiced Link in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, reprises his role as the character in Brawl, with recycled voice clips from the game, replacing Nobuyuki Hiyama in 64 and Melee.

Link is currently ranked 35th on the tier list, placing him in the middle of the F tier, a vast drop from his position of 18th in Melee, and his worst placement in the series. Link is equipped with a useful DACUS that helps his mobility, camping ability, some of the best overall reach in his attacks, great momentum cancelling, the third-best potential vertical endurance, and many KO moves. Like his Melee incarnation, he still has multiple projectiles, all of which are effective for spacing. Gale Boomerangs can be used to apply pressure, he can fire arrows and allow characters to approach, and bombs can be used for edgeguarding. Despite his various projectiles and DACUS, Link has atrocious mobility due to poor dashing speed, air speed, and jumping ability. In addition, Link has lackluster frame data throughout his moveset (his fastest grounded attack, jab, and his fastest aerial, back aerial, have startup lags of 7 and 6 frames, respectively), giving him almost nonexistent out of shield options, one of the worst aerial games, and an unremarkable neutral game. His most crippling flaw, however, is his recovery, which has been heavily nerfed from Melee to being one of the worst recoveries in Brawl, often preventing him from fulfilling his amazing endurance potential. Spin Attack doesn't grant him much horizontal distance (and barely any without prior momentum), his bombs are less effective for bomb recovery, and his hookshot can no longer wall grapple (instead targeting only the edge, making it easily edgehogged). Overall, Link has unimpressive match-ups against most characters (especially in the top tiers) and terrible tournament results.

Attributes
Link may be a character of poor speed, but he makes up for that with power. His sliding DACUS also helps his slow mobility and his BDACUS is very effective due to his fast sidestep. Link is moderately heavy, having the same weight as. Link is also one of the heavyweight characters that has good directional influence and momentum canceling, especially vertically, which along his extremely quick fast fall allows him to survive almost as long as onstage, though he arguably has the worst recovery in the game and sometimes his fast fall can also give him problems recovering. His heavy weight backfires, however, by making him extremely vulnerable to chain grabs that force him offstage. Link's tilts are fast and powerful, and his down tilt is particularly good for getting opponents into the air. It can also meteor smash at the tip of the sword or hitting behind Link, making it respectable for edgeguarding. His up tilt is fast and good for juggling, and his forward tilt can easily KO at high percentages. Link's forward smash can become a two hit natural combo at low percentages. It is also a great KO move, depending from where the sword connects. His down smash is an easy KO move at fairly high percentages, and is Link's quickest smash attack. However, it is predictable making it easy to read at higher percentages, and has some ending lag. Link's up smash doesn't KO easily, but it racks up decent damage. Link's aerial attacks are also good, as both his neutral aerial and grab aerial (zair), combined with a short hop and fast falling, is a great option for approach. Link's back aerial is good for spacing when needed. Link's forward aerial is fairly fast, is a good set-up move and its second hit is powerful, but this KOing move is hard to land, since the first hit only set ups the second hit at very low percentages and the first hit lacks KO power. Link's up and down aerials are some of his best KO moves, having high duration and high knockback, but have high ending and landing lag. Even though his aerial attacks are effective, his slow aerial speed, fast falling speed, and small jumps give Link a very weak aerial game. His grab, like all tether grabs, has good range but has a high amount of startup lag (12 frames) and is laggy if missed. Specials for Link are also good for keeping distance, racking up damage, and great for survival. On the ground, Link can charge his up special. It is a good edge guarding tool, but is predictable. Spin Attack can also deflect projectiles if used in the air. His neutral special is a bow that charges and shoots quick projectiles. If activated in the air, just before hitting the ground, an uncharged arrow will shoot instantly, making it a fast attack that will often hit unsuspecting enemies. Link's down special allows him to pull out a bomb as an item and throw it, which can be used for mindgames, but his own bombs can be caught during the throw and used against him. His side special move, Gale Boomerang has fairly good range and can gimp some opponent's recoveries. Inputting the command like a smash attack will cause the boomerang to reach farther. Link's shield, which he holds to his front while standing, can act as a shield on its own: when Link doesn't move, many projectiles coming from the opposite direction he's facing can't hit him. Crouching can also block most attacks as well, but leaves his upper hitbox open. He also has a great spot dodge.

Link's critical problem is his abysmal recovery, being one of the worst recoveries in the game; this makes him easy to KO despite being a heavyweight with great momentum canceling. Although his projectiles, particularly Gale Boomerang help it somewhat, his poor jumping, quick fall speed, slow air speed, and poor distance on the Spin Attack make his recovery arguably the shortest in the game both horizontally and vertically and also very predictable, so it's suggested that all Link mains have good directional influence. Link's Spin Attack is also a slow recovery move, with predictable trajectory and minimal distance both vertically and horizontally, making it fairly easy to edgeguard and gimp, mostly with moves that out prioritise his projectiles, and due to the poor distance of his recovery he can get KO'd offstage with a fairly low amount of hits and not being able to recover, especially when he loses his 2nd jump, and due his poor height, that also means meteor smashes are devastating for his recovery. Link's most effective mode of recovery is to first throw the Gale Boomerang to disrupt the opponent, then use his up special right after doing his second jump to give more momentum so he can gain more height, but even this is a poor recovery option. Using Spin Attack immediately after being hit while recovering makes it give no horizontal distance at all. His Clawshot can be useful, being the second longest tether grab in the game, but, like all tether recoveries, it is easily edgehogged. Another method of recovery is where Link pulls out a bomb, uses his Spin Attack, and his bomb blows up on him for little damage but gives Link another Spin Attack. At higher percentages the knockback from the bomb can be used for additional height. Although, Link has a large ledge sweetspot, but due to his poor recovery, Link heavily relies on edge grabbing, leaving him vulnerable to edgehogging (though, this can be prevented with his projectiles). If Link is lucky, the Gale Boomerang can carry the opponent out far enough so they can't recover, but this happens rarely, making it very unreliable.

Overall, Link's high power and respectable camping ability is largely offset by his terrible recovery, unreliable frame data and poor mobility; this gives him a poor approach and almost no reliable method of recovering. Because of his overwhelming weaknesses, he is widely considered non-viable in tournament play, and his representation is almost nonexistent at a competitive level.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Melee
Link has received some significant power buffs and is overall a much more powerful character in Brawl. Many of his attacks have been given higher knockback potential, resulting in him wielding many more KO moves. His grab aerial is a lot more useful as an attack as it no longer suffers from large amounts of landing lag, giving him a new spacing tool and more opportunities to link to his other moves. Additionally, the introduction of DACUS gives him a new much needed approach option, though his DACUS is poor as while it covers a large distance, his up smash remains a fairly poor move especially with its higher ending lag.

Unfortunately, he has received some significant nerfs to his movement speed, which has made him an even slower character. His already poor out of shield game was made even worse as all of his out of shield options (including Spin Attack, grab and neutral aerial) are all slower than they were before and his lower traction only increases this issue. His aerial game is also worse, as most of his aerials’ frame data was lengthened, making him difficult to reliably threaten opponents. His air speed is much slower, hindering both his aerial approach and recovery. Up aerial is much slower and now unviable for combos, and the removal of L-canceling drastically harmed both his up and down aerials. His biggest detriment, however, is his heavily crippled recovery in Brawl. His grab aerial can now only be used as a tether recovery, significantly reducing its utility, and his Spin Attack covers less horizontal distance, making him more reliant on prior momentum. This is especially troubling given his worse air speed and acceleration. Link can also no longer destroy Bombs with Spin Attack which also hinders his recovery.

While Link already heavily struggled to utilize his strengths in Melee, the game mechanics made even worse in Brawl, and he has among the worst tournament results and representation.

Ground attacks

 * Neutral attack:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Grab aerial:

Throws/other attacks

 * Grabs
 * Pummel:
 * Down throw:
 * Pummel:
 * Down throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Down throw:

Special moves

 * Hero's Bow:
 * Gale Boomerang:
 * Spin Attack:
 * Final Smash:
 * Gale Boomerang:
 * Spin Attack:
 * Final Smash:
 * Spin Attack:
 * Final Smash:
 * Spin Attack:
 * Final Smash:
 * Spin Attack:
 * Final Smash:
 * Final Smash:
 * Final Smash:
 * Final Smash:
 * Final Smash:
 * Final Smash:

Moveset
For a more detailed information regarding Link's moveset and attack hitboxes, see this page.

Most historically significant players

 * See also: Category:Link players (SSBB)


 * - Known as the best Link player in Europe and one of the very few to achieve any regional notoriety with the character. Managed to place 33rd out of 140 entrants at Bushido Brawl Impact, the only Brawl major that Europe ever had.
 * - Known as the best Link player in the world for most of Brawl's competitive life, while playing him alongside a comain. Placed 49th out of 192 entrants at Pound 4, 33rd out of 148 entrants at MLG Raleigh 2010, and 33rd out of 151 entrants at Pound V, which even with a co-main, remains the only times Link was ever seen in the top 64 of Brawl majors aside from Izaw's lone major placement.
 * - Competed with KirinBlaze as the best Link player for most of Brawl's competitive life, but unlike Kirin he was a solo main. While Legan never competed at majors, he had some impressive placements at large Midwest regionals, including 33rd out of 117 entrants at, 13th out of 70 entrants at , and 17th out of 89 entrants , a level of regional performance that few bottom tier mains ever touched.
 * - Known as the best Link player in the world by the end of Brawl's active competitive life. While he never competed in a Brawl major during the game's active life, he got respectable placements using Link in SoCal regionals near the end of Brawl, which was considered the second strongest region in North America after Tristate. Such placements include 17th out of 70 entrants at and 17th out of 59 entrants at . In the post-Smash 4 era, he would also place 13th out of 54 entrants at Apex 2022, the highest Brawl major placement for a Link player in the post-Smash 4 era.

Tier placement and history
Despite the considerable power buffs he received in Brawl, his amazing vertical momentum cancelling, and possessing a usable DACUS, Link has perpetually hovered among Brawl's bottom four characters since the first tier list. Link's terrible and extremely gimpable recovery has always significantly limited his survivability even in the early inexperienced Brawl metagame, and his very sluggish attacks and terrible mobility significantly inhibited Link's ability to effectively compete even from the earliest stages of competitive play. While Link had a few renowned players, such as, , and , these players were never a high placing threat at majors, with no Link player ever placing higher than 33rd at a major, and even at average regionals, making top 8 was unobtainable. Eventually all of them either dropped Link for a better character or stopped playing Brawl competitively altogether, and while would emerge late in Brawl as a strong Link player in one of the strongest regions, he too couldn't buck this trend. As such, Link's competitive prospects have never prospered throughout Brawl's competitive lifespan, and while he is very rarely thought of as a candidate for the worst character in the game, he never rose beyond being considered a bottom tier.

Role in The Subspace Emissary
Link's role begins with him walking through a forest with his fairy companion, Navi. Upon reaching the Master Sword's resting place, Link pulls the sword from its pedestal, wielding it once more. In a clearing of the forest is a napping, who Link at first pays no mind to. However, the Halberd soon flies over the clearing, dropping Shadow Bugs which soon form into Primids. At this point, Link and Yoshi form a team and battle through the enemies while in pursuit of the Halberd, only to lose their aforementioned target as it flies far off into the distance, though they quickly continue their pursuit.

Link's next appearance plays out depending on which princess is saved earlier on in the story. If was saved, Link and Yoshi do battle with a Shadow Bug clone of Peach (who had recently been turned into a trophy by ) after she attempted to turn an unsuspecting  and  into trophies until Link prevented the attack by slicing the Dark Cannon in half. Upon defeating the clone of Peach, Link is attacked by Mario, who witnessed the defeat of Peach's copy as it reverts into Shadow Bugs and drifts away, apparently mistaking it for the real Peach. Then Link and Yoshi fight him and Pit. If is saved earlier on, then it is she who is cloned, and Mario and Pit fight the clone of her, and must then fend off an attack by Link and Yoshi, whom Link thinks Mario killed the real Zelda. After the defeat of Mario and Pit or Link and Yoshi, arrives in a cargo and snatches the trophies of the fallen duo with an arm attached to it. Fortunately, (who had accompanied Peach/Zelda earlier) appears and frees the two trophies, and revives them as well. Upon revival, Pit/Link fires an arrow at the incoming cargo, slowing it down a little. The five characters then form an alliance and pursue Dedede.

During their pursuit, they find Dedede's cargo (now empty) parked outside of a cave, and decide to enter it. After getting out of the cave, they find Dedede's trashed hideout, and, upon finding a hole in the wall, they decide to enter it. After they get out of the hole, they find Bowser, who Mario tries to attack until Bowser raises Peach/Zelda's trophy as a shield, forcing him to miss. Pit then fires an arrow at Bowser, which he barely dodges, before escaping in his Koopa Clown Car.

They then pursue the Ancient Minister in a desert, trying to stop him from detonating another Subspace Bomb. Mario and Link begin to approach the Minister while dodging the lasers he fires at them. Despite their best efforts, the Subspace Bomb still explodes while the heroes barely escape the blast.

Link later appears after the team makes its way to the desert, where they aid another group (consisting of, , the , , and the ) in fighting off the Subspace Army. Later, Link and Zelda are both present when meeting Tabuu, but they are defeated by Tabuu's Offwaves. If Link and Zelda's trophy forms are retrieved after the initial attack by Tabuu, they will both be shown agreeing to revive (who was turned into a trophy earlier on when he tried to attack Tabuu on his own), at which point they show him where their common target is. Link helps the other heroes throughout the rest of the story.

Playable appearances

 * The Forest
 * The Lake Shore
 * The Cave
 * The Wilds (Part II)
 * The Canyon
 * Entrance to Subspace
 * The Great Maze (if rescued in Subspace (Part II))

Exclusive stickers
These stickers can only be used by Link, or a select few including him:
 * Boomerang: [Weapon] Attack +4
 * Colin: [Specials: Direct] Attack +4
 * Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule: [Electric] Attack +31
 * Darknut: [Slash] Attack +13
 * Epona & Link: [Arm, Leg] Attack +9
 * Fierce Deity Link: [Slash] Attack +21
 * Happy Mask Salesman: [Leg] Attack +9
 * Hylian Shield (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess): [Slash] Resistance +10
 * Lantern: [Flame] Resistance +7
 * Legend of Outset: [Arm] Attack +26
 * Linebeck: [Throwing] Attack +20
 * Link (The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past): [Electric] Resistance +31
 * Link (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess): [Slash] Resistance +27
 * Link (The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker): [Flame] Attack +31
 * Link with Goron Mask: [Slash] Attack +17
 * Link's Grandma: [Arm, Leg] Attack +2
 * Lon Lon Milk: Launch Power +18
 * Midna & Wolf Link: [Leg] Attack +26
 * Moblin: [Slash] Attack +15
 * Octorok: [Leg] Attack +4
 * Piece of Heart: Heart Container Effect +50
 * Salvatore: [Electric] Attack +9
 * Sheik: [Body, Spin] Attack +17
 * Tingle (The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker): [Flame] Resistance +24
 * Young Zelda (The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap): [Normal] Resistance +16
 * Zant: [Weapon] Attack +7
 * Zelda (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time): [Flame] Resistance +18

In Classic Mode, Link can appear as an opponent or ally in Stage 1 along with /,, and on Bridge of Eldin or Pirate Ship (with the latter available if it has been unlocked). Link can also appear as an opponent in Stage 11, but only if he hasn't appeared in Stage 1.

All-Star Mode
In All-Star Mode, Link is fought in Stage 6 alongside /,, and on Bridge of Eldin or Pirate Ship.

Solo Events

 * Event 10: All-Star Battle Regulars: Link is one of the opponents that must be fought in this event. All opponents are starter characters from the original Super Smash Bros. game.
 * Event 18: Dark Link Duel: Link must defeat Dark Link in a 200 HP battle on Bridge of Eldin.
 * Event 33: Advent of the Evil King: As, the player must defeat Link, , and on Temple.

Co-Op Events

 * Co-Op Event 7: Battle of the Dark Sides: Link and must defeat Dark Link and Dark Samus in a 200 HP battle on Bridge of Eldin.
 * Co-Op Event 13: Blades of the Quick and Mighty: and  must defeat Link,, and  on Temple.
 * Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Two players select a character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield.

Trophies
Link's main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing and All-Star mode respectively with Link.

Trivia

 * Link,, , and are the only characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl who are left-handed.
 * Link uses battering items such as the Beam Sword and Lip's Stick with his right hand in order to wield his sword with his left. This prevents him from using his shield when holding items.
 * Link,, and , are the only returning characters in Brawl to have one completely different special move. In Link's case, his side special has been changed.