I find it slightly amusing that the more respected posters in the Link forum are all saying the same thing over and over. Its a good reality check, and we understand that there is no one style that will lead to your ultimate ownage of the smash universe. We all agree that an adaptive Link is best. Its been said quite a few times so far. However, I think its useful to sort of lay out the toolbox for the community by highlighting some of the more popular styles and breaking down strengths and weaknesses. Knowing these can lead to you being a better player because it gives you the key advantage of knowing your options in any given situation. Also, using a style is similar to setting a basic gameplan. Sure it might have to change in order to be viable, but to be honest I think its better to walk into a match with some idea of what you could do rather than just let them have the first stab at defining the match. Which is where we come into the next little debate.
Ok, I've posted a few styles and all now, and hopefully any newer to medium Link players are getting the idea that yes, each of these styles is useful in its own way. Each style has significant pros, which are then balanced be equally significant cons. The obvious thing to do is to simply analyze your opponent, then select a style based on what will benefit you most in the situation. If your opponent seems slow to engage, whip out some aerial assault on his face. If he is being overly aggressive, play the tank and exploit your opportunities. If hes being so predictable it makes you cry, go ahead and be a little psychic. Like I said, this is the obvious way to use these styles. I never said it was the best, just the most obvious. Now if we want to playat a higher level, were gonna have to combine what weve learned.
In my first post I mentioned that my preferred style is tank Link.This is, in essence, just a combination of projectile spam and response styles. I use projectiles to cover for the lack of pressure that a response style can produce, and I use the response style to answer the close up situations in which projectiles just arent efficient. The two styles flow well together and combine to form a new one. But lets get more in depth on the weaknesses here. Obviously, anyone that can break the projectile barrier easily is nullifying fully half of the style. And simply responding is not the best idea when good ol' Laggy Link is in close quarters, especially at low percents when a strong attack may not even clear the enemy from the immediate threat radius. Lets see, whos fast and has minimal trouble breaking a projectile barrier? Hmm...Fox and Falco come to mind swiftly. Im not looking for advice here, im just showing that while Link has few natural counters (all of one), his styles have their own weaknesses to characters. Ironically, last tournament I went to I had not yet developed my aerial priority game well. Guess who I got destroyed by? Foxes and Falcos. It was not pretty. Due to a failure to adapt, I gave them an unfair advantage. There are other factors to why I got creamed, but this is the most relevant. So while its good to have a style you excel at, be ready to abandon it if the match calls. If I ever see you playing a tank game against ICs, I will be sad. That, and youll prolly lose. But thats not the point. Know your weaknesses, and know how to cover for them. This is the key to advancing your Link.
An example of successful adaptivity is a match I had against StoneColdLink. Link ditto, of course (my favorites). I started off with my usual tank style, whereas he played a very dedicated projectile spammer. Very dedicated. And hes pretty dang good at using the style too,so his focus was beating my tank. The fatal flaw of a pure camper though is their unwillingness to take people on in close quarters. Even in a Link ditto a dedicated spammer will most likely retreat if you charge him. So I changed styles to a very aggressive aerial and projectile style, using my projectile including the arrow to stop his and clear the path. He did try to run, so the match was him running and me chasing. Id say we traded about the same number of hits with each other, but I was more likely to turn a hit into a combo starter, while he was more worried about getting me out of threat range unless he knew I could be killed easily. In this manner I managed to win in a close match. Just an example, but it shows that changing your style can take a disfavorable matchup and turn it around for you. Next time Im going into the wonderful world of character matchups and the metagame, and why you should care who your opponent picks. More than you already do. And no, this will not be an "if they pick Sheik, change chars" post...you'll see. In the meantime, lets see some action as far as you guys explaining your ideas on effective style combinations, or new styles we havent addressed, or even some analysis on styles from someone else. Because I know some of you reading this have ideas to contribute, you just havent for some reason. So lets hear it.