Link (SSBB): Difference between revisions

Despite his [[projectile]]s and large amount of advanced techniques, he is currently ranked 36th (second from bottom) in the tier list due to his slow mobility, poor air game, high learning curve, slow start up and ending lag on some moves (meaning they are easily punished), vulnerability to chain grabs and abysmal recovery resulting in terrible match-ups against many characters. Link's ''Brawl'' tier ranking is the lowest of any default character, as well as the lowest ranking for any character with a projectile. Link is also the lowest tiered character to appear in all three ''Smash'' games.

Link may be a character of poor speed, but he makes up for that with power. His sliding [[DACUS]] also helps his slow mobility. Link is moderately [[weight|heavy]], having the same weight as [[Captain Falcon (SSBB)|Captain Falcon]]. Link is also one of the heaviest characters in the game with good Directional Influence and momentum canceling, which along his extremely quick [[fast fall]] allows him live almost as long as [[Snake (SSBB)|Snake]], though he has arguably the worst recovery in the game and sometimes his fast fall can also give him problems recovering. His heavyweight 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. His up tilt is fast and good for juggling, and his forward tilt can easily kill at high percentages. Link's forward smash can become a two hit combo; it is also a great kill move, depending from were the sword connects. His down smash is an easy kill move at fairly high percentages, and is Link's quickest smash. Link's up smash doesn't kill easily, but it racks up decent damage. Link's aerial attacks are also good, as both his Nair and Zair, combined with a short hop and fast falling, is a great option for approach. Links back aerial is good for spacing when needed. Links forward air is fairly fast and is powerful. Link's up and down aerials are some of his best kill moves, having high duration and high [[knockback]], but have high ending lag. Even though his aerial attacks are effective, his slow air speed, fast falling speed, and small jumps give Link a very weak air game. His grab, like all tether grabs, has good range but has 12 frames start-up 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 (spin attack). 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 high-speed projectiles. Link's down special allows him to pull out a bomb and throw it, which can be used for mind games, but his own bombs can be used against him. His Gale Boomerang, Link's side special move, has fairly good range and can gimp some opponent's recovery. Smashing the side special will cause the boomerang to reach farther. Link's shield can act as a shield on its own: when Link doesn't move, many projectiles can't hit him. Crouching can also block most attacks as well, but leaves his upper hitbox open.  

Link's critical problem is his abysmal recovery, making him easy to KO despite being a heavyweight. 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, making it fairly easy to edgeguard. Link's most effective mode of recovery is to 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]] is also useful, but, like all [[Tether Recovery|tether recoveries]], it is easily edgehogged.  

Link has not changed drastically from ''Melee'' to ''Brawl'' but he has been [[nerfed]]. His recovery is worse due to his much slower air speed and shorter [[Clawshot|grappling device]]. The grapple is now a [[tether recovery]] and can no longer be used on any part of a stage, but it finds and tracks the wall, automatically sweetspotting a nearby ledge instead of just latching onto it when it touches. Link's arrows are faster (but are unable to shield him from projectiles now), but the infinite sword stab in his neutral combo has been removed. The first hit of Link's side smash and his bombs cause greater knockback. Link now has a larger character model. His spin attack can be charged on the ground, but the uncharged Spin Attack has lower knockback and longer start-up and it no longer semi-spikes (although in the PAL version it didn't semi-spike). If Link uses Spin Attack in mid-air after just getting hit, it will almost never move horizontally anymore. Link's [[boomerang]] (now called [[Gale Boomerang]]) pushes opponents on the way back without causing damage. It also does lower damage and has a [[set knockback]] now.  Further, the absence of L-canceling makes his poor aerial game even worse, particularly for his dair, his best kill move.  

*Neutral attack - Swipes his sword across his body (can jab lock), second swipe goes outwards (has lots of hitstun, allowing to be comboed to many of his moves) and the third hit is a stab forward. Loosely based off of Link's final blow to Ganon in ''The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time''. First slash does 4%, second does 3%, and the stab does 5%.

*Side Smash - Swings sword forward, if attack button is pressed again, he swings again but with more force. Both hits can be used to rack up damage quickly at very low damages. First hit is stronger in the tip, while the 2nd hit is stronger if hit from close. First hit, 15% (14% if hit at very close range) uncharged, 21% (19% if hit at very close range) fully charged. Second hit, 17% (20% if hit at very close range) uncharged, 23% (26%-28% if hit at very close range) fully charged. Can be used to perform [[The bomb smash|Bomb Smashing]].

*Up Smash - Swings sword in an arc three times. First hit, 4% uncharged, 5% fully charged. Second hit, 3% uncharged, 4% fully charged. Third hit, 10% (8%-9% at very close range, depending on distance) uncharged, 14% (11%-13% at very close range, depending on distance) fully charged.

*Down Smash - Swipes sword from front to back, very quick; like his down tilt but with more force and it aims behind him too, however it does not spike if sweetspotted, but it can sometimes spike opponents when they are trying to recover. Forward hit, 14% uncharged (16%-17% at very close range, depending on distance), 19% (23% at very close range) fully charged. Backward hit, 16% (17% at just the right distance) uncharged, 22% (23% at just the right distance) fully charged. Opponents can be hit by both swipes if they are between Link and the [[Gale Boomerang]] during it's second phase as it pulls the opponent towards Link. However, good timing is required. 31%-35% uncharged, and 42%-48% charged if both hits connect.

*[[Nair]] - Does a flying jump-kick. 6% normally, 10% sweetspotted. [[Sex kick]]. Good priority. Can be auto-canceled.

*[[Bair]] - Does a two kick combo. First kick does 4%, second does 7%. Can be auto-canceled.

*[[Uair]] - Thrusts his sword upward, just like the upward thrust attack in ''[[Zelda II: The Adventure of Link]]''. Long duration and can [[Star KO]] at higher damages, though it has significantly high ending lag. 15% in the first several frames, 13% in the rest.

*[[Dair]] - A very powerful finisher that can K.O as low as 75%, although extremely high landing lag if missed, leaving open to some slow, powerful moves. Holds his sword downward, this time based off of the downward thrust from ''Zelda II''. Can bounce off when the attack lands, scoring an additional hit. Both hits can do anywhere from 8% to 22%. The pogo effect can be canceled by a fast fall. Link learns a similar-looking move in ''Twilight Princess'', which is called the '''Ending Blow'''; used as a finishing move, the attack was used to defeat Ganondorf.

*[[Clawshot|Zair]] - Fires his Clawshot forward, scoring two hits. Auto-cancels. Can be used as a tether recovery. First hit, 4%. Second hit, 6%. Very useful for spacing, and stopping approaches.  This tether recovery can be used to save Link from a KO at extremely high damages ranging up to even higher than 300%. This can be done by simply air dodging and then immediately using Zair after getting hit by an attack that can [[semi-spike]], such as [[Fox (SSBB)|Fox]]'s, [[Jigglypuff (SSBB)|Jigglypuff]]'s, or [[Zelda (SSBB)|Zelda]]'s Down Smashes. Link's Zair can also be used while a bomb is held to cancel an airdodge. Link has the 2nd longest Zair in [[Brawl]], though is only a bit shorter than [[Samus (SSBB)|Samus]]'

*Pummel - Hits opponent with the hilt of the Master Sword. Does 2% damage.

*Up Throw - Throws foe a very short distance above him, then slashes. Can kill at high percentages. Does 7% damage.

*Link has a higher match-up with [[Snake (SSBB)|Snake]] than his faster counterpart [[Toon Link (SSBB)|Toon Link]] does, despite being a lower-tier character. Also, it is possible for Link to combo Snake and KO him with 9 attacks.