Link (SSBB): Difference between revisions

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 [[weight|heavy]], having the same weight as {{SSBB|Captain Falcon}}. 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 {{SSBB|Snake}} 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 vertical distance 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 recovery|tether recoveries]], it is easily [[edgehog|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 [[Sweet spot (ledge)|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.

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 [[Bomb]]s with Spin Attack which also hinders his recovery.