Zelda (SSBU): Difference between revisions

|tier = D+

|ranking = 75

Zelda is ranked 75th out of 82 on the current [[tier list]], placing her in the D+ tier. This is a slight improvement from her 52th/53rd out 54 placement in ''SSB4'' where she was tied with {{SSB4|Ganondorf}}, and is her best placement in the series.

Zelda is a tall, floaty [[weight|lightweight]] character with overall slow mobility. While she has a slightly above-average [[air speed]], the 20th highest [[traction]], and a decent [[initial dash]], her jumping force and [[air acceleration]] are below average, and she has the 22nd slowest [[walk|walking speed]], the 16th slowest [[falling speed]], the 10th lowest [[gravity]], and is tied with {{SSBU|Byleth}} for the 9th slowest [[run|running speed]] in the game. Zelda's attacks are based on magic, making most of them [[disjoint]]ed or otherwise long-range attacks. They also boast generally quick startup; all of her attacks activate before frame 10, except for [[forward tilt]], [[up aerial]], [[down aerial]], and [[forward smash]]. Despite her lightweight status, most of her attacks have [[KO]] potential and impressive damage output, giving her power comparable to heavyweights. Due to these factors, Zelda can be generalized as a zoner glass cannon.

Her [[neutral attack]] is a small burst of magical energy in front of her, boasting decent range and good damage output before transitioning into a [[rapid jab]] of many magical bursts with a finishing hit. Forward tilt is a strong arm swipe with good range and little ending vulnerability, with the additional ability to be angled. [[Up tilt]] is a vertical, long-lasting, circular arm sweep, useful as an anti-air and [[combo]] tool across most percentages of damage. [[Down tilt]] is a quick crouching kick that lasts surprisingly long and is good for many combo setups and 2-framing opponents. Her [[dash attack]] is a dual hand thrust with a burst of magic most powerful closest to her hands. It’s best used throughout combos to gain distance. Her [[forward smash|forward]] and [[up smash|up]] smashes are both powerful, multi-hitting bursts of magic energy; the former being a thrust of the hand forward and the latter being a wave of the hand back and forth above her. [[Down smash]] is a very fast 360° leg sweep that launches opponents at a [[semi spike]] angle with decent knockback.

Zelda has some of the strongest [[aerial]]s in the game kill power wise. Zelda can auto-cancel both her [[neutral aerial|neutral]] and [[down aerial|down]] aerials in a short hop, and [[forward aerial|forward]] and [[back aerial]] auto-cancel from a fast fall. Though her neutral air lacks notable KO ability, it pairs a long active duration with generously-sized hitboxes and decent damage. This, combined with its aforementioned early autocancel window, makes her neutral air her most versatile aerial, used for extending combos (and sometimes starting them), setting up edgeguards, pressuring shields, anti-airing, and edge-guarding. Unfortunately, opponents will occasionally fall out of her neutral aerial, making it an inconsistent tool.  

Her forward and back aerials are known as Lightning Kicks. Both of these aerials possess a very small but powerful sweetspot at her foot, dealing 24% with high knockback. The sweetspot is only active for the first frame, with the late hit or "sourspot" dealing 4% with minimal knockback. Both kicks boast an extremely fast startup at frame 6, but have very punishable ending lag, making them high risk/high reward aerials. Their fast startup and powerful knockback means they excel as well spaced landing aerials, as well as deadly out of shield options. Their short active frame for the sweetspot and punishable ending lag/sourspot means they are very risky when used as rising aerials, as missing or hitting opponents with the sourspot will almost always mean Zelda will get punished. Up air is a large, disjointed explosion with excellent damage and knockback, however with significant startup. Down air, sometimes nicknamed the "Lightning Stomp", is a meteor smash with a powerful sweetspot on her foot, similar to her Lightning Kicks. However, unlike her Lightning kicks, this sweetspot is much larger, making it much easier to connect despite it short active window. Also unlike the lightning kicks, its sourspot has great utility, having large and lingering hitboxes that always spike opponents downwards. It is amongst the most powerful meteor smashes in the game, and one of Zelda's most useful aerials. Besides being one of the best meteor smashes in the game, it also has great utility in platform chases and is a great punish tool as hitting it on grounded opponents will allow Zelda to combo it to her other powerful aerials. Overall, her aerials are all high risk, high reward moves with polarizing strengths.

Her [[special move]]s take inspiration from various Zelda titles. Her neutral special move, [[Nayru's Love]], is a [[reflection|reflector]] that doubles as a melee attack; Zelda also is intangible from frames 4-13 of the move. These traits make it useful against [[projectile]] users as well as evading/halting opponent’s combos. [[Din's Fire]], her side special move, sends out an explosive ball of fire that explodes on the release of the button or when reaching max charge, becoming more powerful and flying further the longer it is charged. It possesses a powerful sweetspot in the inner part of the explosion, with an otherwise large explosion hitbox. The ball of fire does not count as a projectile, but the explosion can be absorbed. In addition, for the first time in the series, Zelda can use it to cover her recovery, as it no longer leaves her helpless in midair. Her up special move, [[Farore's Wind]], is a great KO option, possessing very fast startup and elevator combos from the first hit on the ground to its very powerful second hit in the air. This, combined with it being a omnidirectional teleport recovery that travels a very respectable distance, renders it a very potent recovery move and perhaps one of the most versatile in the game. As a teleport recovery, it's difficult to edgeguard against by default due to its intangibility between exit and reentry. On top of this, it can have anti-ledgetrap and mindgame potential if one opts to use the aforementioned powerful second hitbox instead of snapping to ledge. And, much like {{SSBU|Palutena}}'s [[Warp]], she can completely avoid the move's ending lag by using a technique called [[edge cancel]]ling, which grants her access to otherwise-impossible approach and stage control options. Lastly, her down special, [[Phantom Slash]], is perhaps her most versatile tool. It's a unique projectile that she builds piece-by-piece until it is fully formed, though she can use it at any stage of its creation by pressing either the special or attack button, which affects several of its properties. The earliest stages have rather low damage, knockback, and range, but it becomes increasingly more potent as it becomes more complete, with the final stage having high damage output, impressive knockback, and stellar range. It takes a little over a second to reach the final stage, after which Zelda will be able to move and attack freely in an untethered sort of state. The Phantom will attack on its own after about another second if it is not triggered, granting Zelda a lot of flexibility when using it, such as retreating behind it for protection, attacking in tandem with it, launching the opponent towards it, performing shield breaking combos, making grab setups, and even covering her recovery (similar to Din's Fire).

Despite her toolkit's versatility and potency, Zelda has noticeable flaws. Chief among them is arguably her poor mobility—especially on the ground—which hampers her ability to approach effectively against those who outspeed her. As a result of this, she flounders against quick, fast-falling opponents like {{SSBU|Wolf}} and {{SSBU|Zero Suit Samus}}. This mobility issue is exacerbated through numerous frame data issues, as many of her attacks, while quick to startup, have punishing amounts of end lag. Since she is light, tall, and floaty, she is also vulnerable to juggling and can be KO'd earlier than a good part of the roster. Her very poor disadvantage state makes her vulnerable to momentum changes as well. While rage improves her excellent KO potential even further, her mediocre endurance doesn't allow her to take advantage of it as much as heavier characters. This riskiness is especially apparent in her KO options; though they're incredibly potent, they struggle with unreliable or weak sourspots (in dash attack and Lighting Kicks), punishable ending lag (in up smash, up aerial, and forward smash to an extent) or a combination of the two (in Din's Fire and Farore's Wind). Along with this, some parts of her moveset struggle with landing reliably. Her neutral aerial's multihits, though improved through patches, still sometimes struggle to connect with each other, and her neutral attack and forward tilt's hitboxes are placed high and narrow, respectively, so they sometimes have trouble hitting short or crouching fighters.  

Finally, her special moves have exploitable weaknesses; Nayru's Love has noticeable ending lag, making it punishable if overused. Most importantly, Phantom knight is a large commitment and Zelda is stuck either in startup if she chooses to charge the knight fully, and she is stuck in ending lag if she releases early. This means opponents can punish Zelda hard by reading when she decides to charge knight, and can either prevent her from setting up entirely or by jumping over the knight and punishing her while she is still stuck in startup.

Overall, Zelda has an excellent stage control, ledgetrapping, and can easily KO opponents thanks to a variety of strong attacks and KO setups. However, she has to be precise with how she spaces her attacks and sets up phantom knight due to startup and endlag. She must be creative in her approaches to overcome her mobility issues when she does not have a lead, and must mix up what she does to get out of a disadvantage due to her floaty nature and lack of safe landing options.

Zelda had historically and consistently been regarded as one of the worst characters (and, at one point in ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', the overall worst) in previous games, due to her combination of underwhelming frame data as a whole, a lackluster special moveset, bad hitbox placements, and an undesirable mix of attributes: being slow, light, tall, and floaty. While ''SSB4'' had brought updates to her offensive game, her weaknesses remained, causing her to nevertheless remain unviable. Likely as a result of being a poorly regarded character in previous games, Zelda has been significantly buffed overall in the transition to ''Ultimate'', especially comparing to the game's initial release.

One of Zelda's biggest buffs is her greatly improved moveset: many of her moves have either reduced lag, better KO potential, or other improvements. Her [[neutral attack]], previously the slowest in the game, comes out significantly faster, and has been reworked to possess an infinite portion with better damage racking ability and knockback. Her [[forward tilt]] has more range, less ending lag, and increased damage that improve the sweetspot's KO potential, though it does have 2 more frames of startup and smaller hitboxes with the sweetspots outprioritized by sourspots and the latter have less KO potential. [[Forward smash]] now uses an improved autolink angle, allowing it to connect reliably at both close range and when spaced. [[Neutral aerial]] has decreased landing lag, allowing it to start combos into multiple ground options, including down tilt into forward aerial. [[Up aerial]]'s hitbox is larger, has been moved upwards and its duration has been extended; while the placement makes it difficult to hit grounded opponents, this increases its already solid large vertical range and makes it more difficult to spot dodge, while also giving it a new late hit that deals 12% with less knockback. Her already good grab game was improved to the point it is now among the most useful in the game: her [[back throw|back]] and [[up throw]]s are much stronger, while down throw deals more damage and, although its knockback and angle were altered, its combo ability remains mostly intact. Additionally she has the longest range for a non-tether grab of any character in the game. Her Lightning Kicks have been improved as well, having a larger sweetspot and the forward kick is now active as fast as the back kick, increasing their potency for followups when landing with them, and making them more devastating [[out of shield]]. This allows Zelda to secure KOs more easily, and down throw in particular possessing more reliable KO setups, as it can now combo into back aerial at mid percentages.

Zelda's special moveset, considered among the most situational in previous games, has seen various improvements. [[Nayru's Love]] has faster startup and [[intangibility]], and preserves Zelda's momentum, strengthening its already strong defensive ability and improving its edgeguarding applications. [[Din's Fire]] no longer causes [[helplessness]], giving it utility as an anti-edgeguarding option, has increased duration of effect and the sweetspot is larger and easier to land, making it more difficult to spot dodge and more effective in neutral or advantage state. [[Farore's Wind]] has faster startup, making it a more effective out of shield option, and more precise angles for reappearance, allowing her to land its second hit easier even if the enemy DIs the first hit, making "elevator" combos much more consistent. Most importantly, however, [[Phantom Slash]] has been heavily reworked to possess several more stages that can be unleashed faster, and the last stage allows Zelda to move around before it is unleashed, allowing for intricate trap setups and combos when edgeguarding and approaching, while the Phantom no longer has any cooldown if destroyed. Since the Phantom is formed behind Zelda, it is now better used in her advantage state, though with sufficient spacing it is also a strong tool in the [[neutral game]]. It's damage and KO potential have also been improved post-release. With precise input, Zelda can also short hop behind the Phantom while charging it, allowing it to block incoming projectiles while charging.

Additionally, Zelda noticeably benefits from some of the universal changes. Despite still having below-average mobility relative to the rest of the cast, the universal 3-frame [[jumpsquat]]s and reduced landing lag improve her the most, as they greatly supplement her neutral game, previously one of her main weaknesses. This allows her to approach more reliably with her powerful Lightning Kicks, and improves her combo potential, giving her more consistent and durable followups from moves such as [[up tilt]], neutral aerial, up throw, and down throw, which can dish out large amounts of damage. The changes to [[air dodging]] also generally benefit her, as they improve her edgeguarding game with moves like Din's Fire, and also give her an emergency recovery option.

However, Zelda has received some mixed changes and a few nerfs as well. Despite the improved speed and combo potential of her neutral attack, it is no longer a nearly unpunishable option against shields, and none of her other attacks has had their ending lag reduced enough to fully compensate. Down tilt has less ending lag, but has less range and its new angle worsens its combo potential in general, removing its ability to combo into up aerial, although it can now combo better into neutral aerial and dash attack and has a new KO setup into forward aerial. The changes to down aerial's hitboxes increase the clean hit's range and remove the blindspot located in Zelda's lower leg, but causes the late hit to have smaller hitboxes. Zelda's dash and pivot [[grab]]s, already below-average in speed, have received even more startup, although her pivot grab has very large range for a non-tether grab and both of them have less ending lag. Both [[forward throw]] and Farore's Wind are weaker, most significantly the former, now only being usable for setting up edgeguards in a similar vein to {{SSBU|Ness}}' own forward throw, though Farore's Wind is more consistent for self-combos due to faster startup and more precise DI options for reappearance that can hit opponents who DI the initial hit.

Lastly, while Zelda does benefit from some the changes to the game's engine, other changes have impaired her as well; the universal increase in mobility doesn't benefit her as much due to her slow grounded movement, since it still doesn't allow her to catch up with most of the cast. The increased [[shieldstun]] both helps and hinders Zelda, as it allows her moves to be more safely spaced, but combined with the universal reductions to landing lag (despite aerials having less shieldstun), it also slightly worsens her respectable out of shield game. Finally, of note is that Zelda keeps some of her weaknesses from previous games, mainly her slow movement speed, light weight, a few poor hitbox placements (such as extremely weak sourspots on her Lightning Kicks, which are otherwise her strongest KO moves). However, the nerfs she has received are not as meaningful as her buffs.

Overall, Zelda's moveset has been considerably enhanced from previous installments, making her strengths much more defined, and allowing her to play defensive much more reliably. Her perception in the competitive metagame has been more positive than in previous games, albeit rather inconsistent: Initially, Zelda was seen as a mid-tier character thanks to decent results from smashers such as {{sm|ven}} despite retaining some of her weaknesses from previous games. However, Zelda's overall tournament representation had at the time been below average, and her polarizing traits had led to her weaknesses to be exploited more easily as the metagame hads advanced, leading most players to believe that while Zelda fared much better in ''Ultimate'', she had not improved significantly compared to other previously lower-ranked characters in ''SSB4'', such as {{SSBU|Palutena}}, {{SSBU|Pac-Man}}, {{SSBU|Falco}} and {{SSBU|Wii Fit Trainer}}, with most players re-evaluating her as a lower mid-tier or low tier character once more (though not to the extent of ''SSB4''). Fortunately, {{SSBU|7.0.0}} has brought her meaningful improvements that have made her moveset more cohesive and consistent. {{SSBU|11.0.0}} also improved the consistency of her forward smash, making it a much more reliable kill option, while {{SSBU|13.0.0}} brought additional consistency to her neutral game and ability to KO using smash attacks and her spike. She has had consistent tournament performance and a notable growth in her competitive player base over the past two years.  

Despite these changes, she is still generally viewed as a lower mid tier character with many top ranked players placing her in low tier. Despite her powerful out of shield options, fast burst options, KO power, and ledge trapping, her poor disadvantage, mobility, and inconsistency are big weaknesses that prevent her from being higher up in the tier list. However, this incarnation of Zelda is universally agreed to be the strongest one yet, and she is generally considered to be a viable character for the first time in the series.

|dsmashdesc=A spinning, low-level roundhouse kick. Due to it hitting on frame 5, it is tied with {{SSBU|Mario}}, {{SSBU|Dr. Mario}}, {{SSBU|Pit}}, {{SSBU|Dark Pit}}, {{SSBU|Ryu}}, and {{SSBU|Ken}}'s down smashes for the second-fastest smash attack of any kind in the game, being surpassed only by {{SSB4|Meta Knight}}'s [[buffer]]ed down smash. It is also a [[semi-spike]] that hits on both sides, which makes it very useful for punishing rolls or setting up an edge-guard. Although it is Zelda's weakest smash attack, it is still quite powerful and has a rather low ending lag. Its front hit KOs middleweights at around 117% while near the edge of Final Destination. In comparison, its back hit KOs them at around 122% while near the edge of Final Destination.

|uairdesc=Leans back and turns slightly to extend her arm in order to use her magic to create a fiery explosion from her index and middle fingers. It is the most damaging and second strongest up aerial in the game, only slightly weaker than Shulk's up aerial if the second hit is sweet spotted. When coupled with its consistent hitbox, it is Zelda's most reliable aerial KOing option, KOing middleweights at around 100% from a full hop. It can also clip through platforms or the bottom of a stage's edge and has a great vertical range thanks to its large hitbox. However, it is slow, hitting on frame 14, which makes it tied with down aerial for the highest amount of start-up lag out of Zelda's aerials. It also has high ending lag (40 frames), a short duration, and a fairly short horizontal range. It autocancels in a full hop.

SSBUZeldaIdle1.gif|Zelda's first idle pose

SSBUZeldaIdle2.gif|Zelda's second idle pose

*{{Sm|Marf|Canada}} - The best Zelda player in Canada. Placed 3rd at {{Trn|Animethon 26}}, 4th at {{Trn|Salt Flats 2020}}, 7th at {{Trn|SKL: Prairie Pummel}}, and 13th at {{Trn|VORTEX}} with wins over players such as {{Sm|Exodia}}, {{Sm|Lights}}, and {{Sm|Alphicans}}. Ranked 3rd on the [[Alberta Power Rankings]].

*{{Sm|Mystearica|USA}} - One of the best Zelda players in the United States in the early metagame but has since dropped the character for {{SSBU|Palutena}}. Placed 5th at {{Trn|2GG: Run it Back}}, 25th at {{Trn|Pound 2019}}, and 33rd at both {{Trn|Smash 'N' Splash 5}} and {{Trn|DreamHack Atlanta 2019}} with wins over players such as {{Sm|Tea}}, {{Sm|Goblin}}, and {{Sm|Ned}}. Ranked 1st in the [[Indiana Power Rankings]].

*{{Sm|Naskino|France}} - The best solo-Zelda player in Europe. Placed 7th at {{Trn|Smash4Glory - Ultimate Edition}}, 9th at {{Trn|Ultimate WANTED 2}}, 17th at both {{Trn|Temple: Hermès Edition}} and {{Trn|Ultimate Fighting Arena 2022}}, and 33rd at {{Trn|Ultimate Fighting Arena 2019}} with wins over players such as {{Sm|Tarik}}, {{Sm|Leon}}, and {{Sm|Mr. E}}.

*{{Sm|ven|USA}} - One of the best Zelda players in the world. Placed 9th at both {{Trn|Wavedash 2022}} and {{Trn|LVL UP EXPO 2023}}, 13th at {{Trn|The Kid, the Goat, and the Mang0}}, 17th at {{Trn|2GG: Prime Saga}}, and 25th at {{Trn|2GG: SwitchFest 2019}} with wins over players such as {{Sm|ESAM}}, {{Sm|Gackt}}, and {{Sm|Kurama}}. Ranked 3rd on the [[Las Vegas Power Rankings]].

*{{Sm|Yn|Japan}} - One of the best Zelda players in the world. Placed 7th at {{Trn|Sumabato SP 15}}, 9th at {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 11}}, 13th at {{Trn|KOWLOON 3}}, 17th at {{Trn|Mēsuma}}, and 25th at {{Trn|Umebura SP 9}} with wins over players such as {{Sm|Tea}}, {{Sm|Kome}}, and {{Sm|Asimo}}.

All of Zelda's battles are on ''The Legend of Zelda''-themed stages, and all her opponents are antagonists. The final battle is against Ganondorf, who transforms into Ganon upon defeat.

|3||{{CharHead|Mii Swordfighter|SSBU|hsize=20px}} (x5)||[[Temple]]||''{{SSBUMusicLink|The Legend of Zelda|Temple Theme}}''||Horde Battle.<br>The Mii Swordfighters are dressed in Yiga Clan Mask and Yiga Clan Outfit.

|6||{{CharHead|Link|SSBU|hsize=20px|color=Black}} (x4)||[[Hyrule Castle]]||''{{SSBUMusicLink|The Legend of Zelda|Great Temple / Temple}}''||