Link (SSBB): Difference between revisions

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 second 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 Boomerang]]s can be used to apply pressure, he can fire arrows and allow characters to approach, and [[bomb]]s can be used for [[edgeguarding]]. Despite his various [[projectile]]s and [[DACUS]], Link has atrocious mobility due to poor [[Dashing|dashing speed]], [[air speed]], and [[jump]]ing 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 [[nerf]]ed 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 [[bomb]]s 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.

*{{change|Link's taunt from ''Melee'' has been removed. His new down taunt is similar to his ''Smash 64'' taunt.}}

**{{buff|Down tilt deals more damage (11% → 12%) and has increased base knockback (80 → 90). This combined with the changes to [[meteor canceling]] *significantly improves its edgeguarding potential.}}

**{{bugfix|[[Ghost Arrow glitch]] has been removed.}}

**{{bugfix|[[Boomerang superjump]] glitch removed.}}

|fsmashname=Sword Slice

|zairname= 

|grabname= 

|desc-down=Link's taunt that had previously appeared in the original ''Super Smash Bros.''. He pulls his knee to his chest and draws his sword back behind his head. Similar to {{SSBB|Lucario}}'s down taunt. May be loosely based on the attacking pose used by the Link from ''Zelda II: The Adventure of Link''.}}

===Matchups===

Link has among the worst matchup spreads in ''Brawl''. He soft counters two characters, {{SSBB|Ganondorf}} and {{SSBB|Zelda}}, and is even with three, but is soft countered by seven, countered by 20, and hard countered by four. He suffers against characters who can outspeed him such as {{SSBB|Sonic}} and {{SSBB|Sheik}}, characters who can outcamp him such as {{SSBB|Falco}}, or characters that can chaingrab him to death such as {{SSBB|Ice Climbers}} and {{SSBB|King Dedede}}. Overall, Link has very few advantageous matchups, and his positive matchups are rarely seen in competitive play.

*{{sm|Izaw|Sweden}}

*{{sm|KirinBlaze|USA}}

*{{sm|Legan|USA}}

*{{Sm|LordXav1er|USA}}

*{{sm|Mr. R|Netherlands}}

*{{sm|Scabe|Australia}}

*{{sm|Scizor|USA}}

Despite the considerable power buffs he received in ''Brawl'', his amazing [[momentum cancelling]], and being given 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 renowned players, such as {{Sm|KirinBlaze}}, {{Sm|Legan}}, {{Sm|Izaw}}, and {{Sm|Scabe}} in Australia, none of these players have ever achieved notable tournament results beyond the local level, and all of them have either dropped Link for a better character or stopped playing ''Brawl'' competitively altogether. As such, Link's competitive prospects have never gotten prospered throughout Brawl's competitive lifespan, and while he is very rarely thought of as a candidate for the worst character in the game, it is extremely unlikely Link will ever rise beyond the bottom tier, as he has a minuscule playerbase and ''Brawl''{{'}}s metagame has become mostly stagnant.

==In [[Event Matches]]==

===Solo Events===

===Co-op Events===