Fox vs. Link

[Ao]

Hey. I was at the V Games tourney just yesterday (Portland), and one of my battles, I lost against a Link. Now, this Link was not as good as me, and without his whirlwind attack, I would've demolished him. I played as Fox. But his whirlwind attack negated most of my recovery unless I was lucky, as well as my sex kick and lots of my shine- my major strengths.

So my question was how should I deal with Link's whirlwind attack in the future, and how do you all deal with it?

[jrta]

shield or drill from above. Sweet spot the edge better for recovery.

[Ao]

Will the drill resist the whirlwind?

I tried to sweetspot the ledge, but I just need to get better at that, cuz if I miss, I get hit and I'm dead.

[Masamune]

If he is using it a lot, try to use a full jump, not a small jump. Try to dash dance and run towards him so he thinks that you will attack him and wavedash back.

[Ao]

Hey, good idea. I never thought there would be a time I WOULDN'T want to SH lol.

[AWrulez]

Sweet spot the edge while recovering (forward+B works well), and drill kick to shine to anything. Also, spam the blaster, making him come to you.

[KrooKs]

spin attack won't hit the edge. the grass cutter spike is better. I rape fox with it all the time.

[soberfox]

Basically what everyone has said, sweetspot ledge always, and drillshine the fu(k out of him. Also, if your playing of FD, Link falls into the waveshine infinite, if you can do that effectively.

But no doubt, the whirlwind is a pain, but it can definetly be played around.

[Blind]

Be careful... if he's raping the whirlwind mindlessly, he's probably not a very good Link player. Link has a lot more options than just up+b. His projectiles can keep you stuck in your reflector longer than you may feel comfortable with, and his neutrals can stop your short hop offense cold. He also can combo decently at mid-percents with his up throw, so that's something to watch out for. Not to say his up+b isn't a nasty piece of work.. he can clear Fox out with it quite well and it follows naturally from an up throw, so you have to constantly watch out for the grapple.
His spin attack for edgeguarding only works if he times it so you hit it at the edge of the attack, and also at the end of the animation so it spikes you. It is nasty otherwise, but in the former situation you simply won't recover. You have to sweetspot the edge, and if he's getting real predictable, just use mindgames... punish a ruined spin attack with an L-cancelled d-air into a throw, and combo him. He doesn't escape combos well, so use that to your advantage as best you can. Another good idea would be to fall back and blaster spam him when he misses a spin attack or grapple. Don't even short hop it, just go full auto and end the animation before he's fully recovered. Free percent is never a bad thing. Watch out for cc'ed d-tilts though, when you're fighting him on the ground... he can pop you up and even go straight into a d-air, which is never a good thing.
Just overwhelm him with speed; Fox has lots of it, and Link doesn't, so simply outmaneuver him.

[fluffy-sama]

if you can do fox's more difficult infinite (drill->waveshine->repeat->wavesmash. ) really well, then screw link. especially if he's one that likes to spin cut. landing a shinespike on top of link when he's doin' that crap is pretty difficult, so just chase him down and get him with before he starts it. If he's not close enough to the edge to do that, spincut probably won't get him all the way back, anyway, so just edgehog. I also nail him with fox's drill all the time... not really sure how i do it.

I know a link who likes to do the spincut standing in place... which is going to earn him a nasty and quick death the next time he does it, because as we all know, link is helpless for a second after he does that (link always has to strike those poses, heh)... that's all the time fox needs to get in and start an infinite...

if he tries to do a standing spincut while you're standing near him, just shield and then upsmash out of it.

[Greta_the_Great]

Fox destroys Link, there are countless combos Fox can rip up Link with. Whirlwind is worthless if you would only CANCEL your moves quickly enough. Destroy Linky with your speed. Game Over. He can't even use his hookshot :)

[Lord HDL]

Originally posted by Greta_the_Great
Fox destroys Link, there are countless combos Fox can rip up Link with. Whirlwind is worthless if you would only CANCEL your moves quickly enough. Destroy Linky with your speed. Game Over. He can't even use his hookshot :)

Oh come on, Link against Fox isn’t all THAT bad, haha.

But to a more serious comment, you definitely want to grab the guy and follow his tech to an up smash. Fox runs fast enough to follow him every time easily, so after you down throw you can just stand there to see what he does and still have enough time to chase him and maybe grab him again or some other combo. Well-crafted Hookshot combos destroy Fox, and after he’s off the stage it’s a mission getting back. So you definitely want to be as wary of the Hookshot as you can. I’d say don’t go into full-fledge mode unless he invites you by doing a Spin Attack or Hookshot or something that makes him vulnerable. Link can still hold his own against Fox better than most people think, so you really should be alert (especially watching out for that Hookshot).