[Guide] Link Community Q&A - 1 New Question!

[CostLow]

10/23/14​

LINK COMMUNITY Q&A
Welcome! Please read the Thread Guidelines before posting.
Thank you!​

Thread Guidelines

This is not intended to be the only place to ask questions, but it is my intention to find those questions and respective answers, and to bring them here for future convenience.

All questions will be organized into the following categories:

• FAQs
• General gameplay
• Solo mode
• **And more, as the catalog expands**

For Q&As in this thread please make questions as specific as possible, and answers as clear as possible. This way we can eliminate problems with someone asking a question and not feeling like their question was answered. Likewise, when someone takes time to answer a question, they aren't told that their time was just wasted.

Example: Can Link's Dash attack dodge projectiles?
He's probably jumping over them, not really a glitch or anything unusual. There are many attacks that move a character's hurtbox, the areas where they can take damage. When Mario is charging a smash attack his hurtbox gets smaller, for example.

This thread will be updated as often as needed. The legend below can help you find the full discussion for each Q&A.

Legend:
? - Hyperlink to the original question.
? - Hyperlink to the original question (not within this thread)
? - Hyperlink to the original question (unanswered)

↑ - Hyperlink to the original answer.​

The next post in this thread will contain any requests that I may have of the community, in helping me make this the best Q&A on the Smashboards.





So, without further delay...

Currently Un-Answered Questions

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Spoiler: Any tips on defeating Classic on 9.0?

?

Spoiler: Apologies if this is a dumb question, but i can't find any mention of it. I won a bonus chance thing on spectator mode like 10 minutes ago and won Link's Standard 4. It had no name, but had the new tag and red squiggly thing. I went onto customise and it...wasn't there. I didn't know any character's special had 4 variants. What's going on?

?

Questions and Answers

​

Spoiler: Release Dates

- Super Smash Bros. for 3DS is available worldwide.

- Super Smash Bros. for Wii U releases on:
November 21, 2014 December 6, 2014

Spoiler: FAQs

Spoiler: What has changed for Link, since Brawl?

...
Overall Impressions:

Spoiler

Air game:

• Link's air game is less potent in terms of knockback than before, most notably Dair. This is not a bad thing.
• He can throw out fast attacks such as Nair and Bair to protect himself.
• Link players might now experience more trouble from below when in the air, especially once more people learn that Dair is not a KO move. This isn't entirely bad, as mixing up both Link's fast fall and other moves (primarily Nair/Bair/Fair) should let you reach the ground, not to mention that Dair still does considerable damage and puts Link in an advantageous position.
• Multiple juggle tools, Uair and Dair
• Short hops with moves like Nair, Bair, Fair, and probably even Uair will be great for pressuring opponents.
• All his air moves give a positional advantage on hit, either offering juggle or putting the opponent at a good range for Link.
• Good edge guarding and gimping capability. Fairs, double Nairs, ledge drop double jump backair after ledge trumping by retracting tether immediately after letting them grab the ledge.
• Air mobility is great, both horizontally and vertically. Should be capable of following up many moves more effectively than ever before.
• In summary, his air game is good and now more focused on helping you rack up more damage while maintaining control of the match.

Ground game:

• Link's mobility increase lets him cover the ground he needs finally to use all his options. Far, mid, and short range options should all be useful now.
• Link's moveset still leaves a blind-spot for high-diagonal approaches, his new speed allows him to deal with this better.
• You can set up an effective spacing game with Link's normals. They have good reach, and of course, use a sword.
• The speed of his moves means Link's not totally helpless to throw one out when someone is near.
• Link's biggest weakness in this game will be being out-spaced by better players, or faster characters. His moves are quick and ranged, but like Marth in Melee, will still be punishable with poor spacing, namely whiffing moves just outside their range. That being said, for now it looks like a weakness that good Link can adequately compensate for with his mobility.
• I hope I'm not being short-sighted, but in general he doesn't appear to have any glaringly obvious shortcomings.

Gameplan:

• Link now has the tools to do what he's designed to do best: be creative. As always, he has many reasonable options in many situations, the only difference is that this time he seems to not suck, plain and simple.
• I think Link will have a strong defensive game, with the ability to pressure other characters as well with a flurry of quick moves.
• At low percents, Link has some short combo game on top of midrange spacing and zoning that can get the opponent to mid percents.
• At mid percents, Link can play his midrange spacing and zoning games to rack up more damage until kill percents.
• At kill percents, Link may have a little trouble securing the kill, but has lots of possible KO moves, a number of which are somewhat safe to fish with, and there's a great chance you'll end up KOing them anyway by just continuing to play a spacing game with moves like Ftilt and Utilt. Jab cancels into other moves is also an option, as well as Bomb combos (Bomb > Uair initial hit looks strong).
• Any time you hold a Bomb, it is unsafe the the opponent to touch you. Period.

...

While Link has traditionally been a weak character, he seems to have gone through many improvements that both make him a stronger fighter and better represent his abilities in The Legend of Zelda.

• Link's dash attack is now the Jump Attack from Ocarina of Time. It is capable of hitting both horizontally and vertically depending on placement of the hitbox, and is much stronger than his old dash attack.
• Link's grab has less startup and far less ending lag.
  • It regains its Super Smash Bros. trajectory, in which it shoots straight without falling to the ground.
• Clawshot's tether covers far more distance as with other tethers, heavily improving Link's recovery.
• His grab aerial comes out much faster.
  • However, it deals far less damage (from 10% to 6%).
• Neutral aerial deals 1% more damage during startup.
  • It now has a sourspot behind Link which deals 9% damage.
• Down aerial has an added meteor smash during the start of the attack, similar to Toon Link's in Brawl. Link's down aerial also experiences significantly less landing lag after impacting the ground.
  • However, the non meteor hits of down aerial are significantly weaker than Brawl.
• Up smash's final hit deals 1% more damage.
• Down smash is now a powerful semi spike during the second hit.
• Forward smash is stronger.
  • Both hits deal less damage (from 15%/20% to 14%/13%).
• Forward tilt has less ending lag.
• Gale Boomerang has increased knockback.
• Hero's Bow charges faster.
• Link's Bombs no longer self-harm him if thrown point-blank at an opponent.
  • He can also now hit them in the air once again, and due to their shorter fuse, make his recovery much better.
  • However, they can only deal 5% when thrown directly at an opponent.
• Link's recovery is much better, needing much less momentum than before, and reaching much higher and farther than it has in Brawl.
• Link appears to have greater speed in both the air and on the ground, alongside overall less lag in his attacks.
• Triforce Slash's damage has been lowered from 83% to 69%.
• Back aerial's damage has been lowered from 11% to 8%.
  • Though it comes out much faster than before.
• Forward aerial's damage has been lowered from 9%/12% to 8%/10%.
  • However, it is much faster and has even less landing and ending lag than in Brawl.
• Spin Attack has a slightly altered animation in which Link spins his sword at subtly different heights. However, it has no obvious change in power or range compared to Brawl.
• Up aerial has changed from its Zelda II: The Adventures of Link animation to a very wide scissor kick. It appears to have a smaller hitbox.
• Link has a new edge attack based on the Crouch Stab from Ocarina of Time.
• Link's roll animations are now based on Link's abilities from Ocarina of Time.

Spoiler: Does Link have any good "kill moves"?

?

in neutral game you should be using boomerang, bombs, zair, nair, jabs, dsmash, fsmash1

to answer your original question.

universal kill moves
utilt -floaty slayer
usmash - forward roll punish
upthrow - floaty slayer
upair - air dodge punish (easier with tap jump off)
dsmash1 - forward roll punish (i havent found a consistent way to kill with dsmash2 yet)
fsmash1 - back roll punish (it has a tight timing)
fsmash2 - i use it as a frame trap. if they try to press buttons after a blocked tipper fsmash1 hit them with fsmash2

edge guarding
nair - dropzone nair DJ nair wrecks a lot of characters
fair - at higher %s fair1 will wreck most of the cast
bair - ledge fall bair DJ nair gimps a lot of characters
dair - this move is worthless to kill off the top, use it to spike

IMO his best kill move is up-B OoS, it's such a good punish and comes out so quickly that most people don't even DI it.

Spoiler: Any tips for playing a good **SSB4 Charater**?

Right now, the meta game for Link is still in early development stages, but as more in-depth knowledge of each match-up is formed, we will be able to share more insights into this important matter. For now, here are some of the discussions being had.

Link Matchup Discussion - This is the main place to for other Link players to talk about different matchups. This thread is rather young right now so I'll include some other threads that may be of interest as well.

Specific Matchup Discussions on the Link Boards:
Ness
Rosalina
Samus
Sheik
Shulk

Also, feel free to venture into other parts of the SmashBoards to see what other character forums are saying about us. That could possibly be even more revealing.

Spoiler: I want to start playing competitively. Where can I find tournaments to compete?

Just click on the 'Events' tab at the top of the page.

Spoiler: General gameplay

Spoiler: Can Link's Dash attack dodge projectiles?

?

He's probably jumping over them, not really a glitch or anything unusual. There are many attacks that move a character's hurtbox, the areas where they can take damage. When Mario is charging a smash attack his hurtbox gets smaller, for example.

very much doubt it's invincibility frames.

Spoiler: Where can I find an in-depth analysis of Link?

Here is a list of some very good guides to playing Link. In them, you can find a lot of great information pertaining to Link and his currenty meta game. As we have more time with the games even more information will become available, such as hit/hurt-box locations, kill percentages, frame numbers, etc.

[Guide] "It's Freakin' Link!" - A look at Link in Smash 4
[Guide] Built With Courage: The Smash 4 Link Analysis Thread

Spoiler: Outside of Smashboards

The Hylian Hero | Link Guide and Q&A Thread WIP - Moveset, Advance Techniques, Frame Data, & Strategies!

Spoiler: Apologies if this is a dumb question, but i can't find any mention of it. I won a bonus chance thing on spectator mode like 10 minutes ago and won Link's Standard 4. It had no name, but had the new tag and red squiggly thing. I went onto customise and it...wasn't there. I didn't know any character's special had 4 variants. What's going on?

?

Spoiler: Solo mode

Spoiler: Any tips on defeating Classic on 9.0?

?

 

[CostLow]

Spoiler: Working on changing up this thread. I guess I'm going to make it more like a full-blown library.

LINK COMMUNITY LIBRARY
Welcome! Grab any book that interests you and settle-in for a good read.

House of Books

Most Popular:

Spoiler: (5 Books)

• Video Archive Thread
  

  When posting a video link please write down the player names, the characters, and the date that the match was recorded.
  Example: Scizor vs JヨD http://www.twitch.tv/jed05/c/5163743

• Community Q&A
  

  For Q&As in this thread please make questions as specific as possible, and answers as clear as possible. This way we can eliminate problems with someone asking a question and not feeling like their question was answered. Likewise, when someone takes time to answer a question, they aren't told that their time was just wasted.
  

  Example: Can Link's Dash attack dodge projectiles?
  He's probably jumping over them, not really a glitch or anything unusual. There are many attacks that move a character's hurtbox, the areas where they can take damage. When Mario is charging a smash attack his hurtbox gets smaller, for example.

• Link Social
  

  Link players needed a social thread for SSB4 and here it is!
  
  Post whatever you want to talk about but keep it within the Smashboards global rules.

• Matchup Index
  

  If you spot a new matchup thread, please post it. I will update this.

• [Guide] It's Freakin' Link!
  

  Blubba_Pinecone's Smash 4 3DS Link moveset analysis and impressions.
  
  Hi all, I've been eagerly anticipating this new Link from what pre-release footage I've seen. Now that I have the demo, I'm going all out in learning what new tricks our Hero has in store for the battle, and I want to share everything with everyone. If you're wondering my experience, I've mained Link competitively since 2007, five years of Brawl Link experience and three years of Melee Link. I hope the information here is helpful to everyone looking at Link in Smash 4 and that we'll see plenty of new Heroes rise to the challenge. I want to see Link placing well and being viable for once.
  
  
  The game is in its infancy, so I will not make tier list predictions of any sort. As of right now I am happy with what Link has been given. Now get out there and do work.

Coming Soon:

Spoiler: (5 Books)

Advanced Techniques [AT]

-Compile links here-​

Intro [Guide]

-Compile links here-​

Tournament results that include a Link player [Tourney]

-Compile links here-​

Link Phonebook [WiFi]

(friend code - country/region/state - color - secondary - times - version(s) - skype - videos/channel/stream)

Spoiler: CostLow

xxxx-xxxx-xxxx
Germany/Bavaria

Pac-Man & Bowser Jr
2100-0200
only 3DS
n/a
https://www.youtube.com/user/BrandonCosltow

​

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Possible images:

Topics/Notes:
Wifi
Link Analysis/Matchup/Video/Critique/AT/Combo/BasicPlay
Q&A/FAQs

[AT] = Threads relating to Advanced Techniques
[MU] = Threads relating to talks about matchups
[Records] = For threads that deal with setting new records in the other modes
[Guide] = Guides that help you learn about Link
[Critique] = Critique my Link. (Should be posted in the Video thread though)
​

• A WiFi Thread​
• Compiler of useful threads. (Big job)​
• Tournament Results thread​
• A Q&A thread Thanks CostLow!​
• Skype Group​
• Matchup compiler thread Thanks The BuzzSaw!​
• Multiple discussion threads on Link's Moveset (e.g. week 1 Jab, week 2: Dtilt)​

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[LightLelouch89]

Any tips on using Link to take out the smash core in classic mode on 9.0 intensity? I always get knocked off the screen by his sword form.

 

[Scabe]

I'm liking the look and effort put into this thread. Certified sticky.

 

[Rizen]

Good stuff doing work!

 

[CostLow]

Any tips on using Link to take out the smash core in classic mode on 9.0 intensity? I always get knocked off the screen by his sword form.

Sorry, I can't help you there. I haven't done it yet. I just did 6.0 to unlock that block on the challenges board.

 

[Scabe]

Smashboards should have some sort of competition for 'Best looking/useful threads' because seriously this thread is so damn awesome. You the 'Link's Down B' Costlow!

 

[ROOOOY!]

Apologies if this is a dumb question, but i can't find any mention of it. I won a bonus chance thing on spectator mode like 10 minutes ago and won Link's Standard 4. It had no name, but had the new tag and red squiggly thing. I went onto customise and it...wasn't there. I didn't know any character's special had 4 variants. What's going on?

 

[CostLow]

Man, I have no idea. I did some searches online for possible hidden specials but I haven't found anything yet. Sorry Roy.

 

[SirKenneth]

Thank you for this thread. Really nice info here

 

[CostLow]

Ok Scabe. You can lock this whenever you please. The other thread includes this stuff now.