Meta Link's Metagame Thread (Informative Quotes Can Be Found in the OP)

[Ryu_Ken]

You didn't now that you could ftilt with a bomb? Do you know about bombsmashing? Looks like you need to do your homework.

I knew about bombs smashing and using aerials to catch bombs. I didn't see it in the AT section of the FiH thread, so I assumed this was new. The sliding Dsmash is a new find, though. Also, it seems you can slide with anything that doesn't stop your traction (Ftilt, grab, Dsmash, Dtilt...). Pretty interesting.

 

[link and ike lover]

Anyone up to play?

If so add me. NNID: Thegodlink

 

[A_Phoenix_Down]

I like to short hop into n-air (fast fall if needed), d-tilt on landing, and u-air into a bomb throw. His N-air is godly, goes through pretty much all projectIles and is viable to start combos at low percent, not to mention fast and has further reach than a lot of aerial attacks

 

[Elessar]

Link's nair actually has such a brutal priority that it clashes and cancels most attacks. I think that every non smash nor charged attack actually. However, nair on shield is asking for a beating.

 

[link7]

So I have a couple of questions.

First one, do phantom hits exist? I have a saved replayed where I had a Falcon clip just slightly into a boomerang pull. I hit him with a Nair, and the boomerang kept pulling him. No knockback, and he had like 45%. The Nair hit the sweetspot too. Not even a flinch.

Second question, is there specific input that allows you to throw a bomb away from you, and have it land with out exploding? I'm not referring to the Zair drop, there have been a few times where I throw a bomb and it lands without exploding. It didn't touch a shield either. I've tried to duplicate this in training, but I can't seem to do it whenever I'm actually trying to make it work.

 

[Elessar]

So I have a couple of questions.

First one, do phantom hits exist? I have a saved replayed where I had a Falcon clip just slightly into a boomerang pull. I hit him with a Nair, and the boomerang kept pulling him. No knockback, and he had like 45%. The Nair hit the sweetspot too. Not even a flinch.

Second question, is there specific input that allows you to throw a bomb away from you, and have it land with out exploding? I'm not referring to the Zair drop, there have been a few times where I throw a bomb and it lands without exploding. It didn't touch a shield either. I've tried to duplicate this in training, but I can't seem to do it whenever I'm actually trying to make it work.

Not sure this is the right thread to ask this since it's not related to meta, but since we still don't have a Q&A thread I'll let it pass.

1. Yes there are. I assume you mean the times that fox's or falcos' phantasm goes through our hitboxes without registering a hit. It happens. I've only seen it happen with space animal sideB though.

2. I believe that bombs don't explode anymore upon landing if they land soft. That means, if you throw it hard or up they'll explode, but a soft throw on a platform shouldn't. That's for normal bombs. Giant bombs and meteor only explode when the fuse runs out or when they touch an opponent iirc.

 

[link7]

Not sure this is the right thread to ask this since it's not related to meta, but since we still don't have a Q&A thread I'll let it pass.

2. I believe that bombs don't explode anymore upon landing if they land soft. That means, if you throw it hard or up they'll explode, but a soft throw on a platform shouldn't. That's for normal bombs. Giant bombs and meteor only explode when the fuse runs out or when they touch an opponent iirc.

I made sure to check the threads before I made a decision to post this question here.

Okay, I figured out what was happening. In matches, I didn't realize that I was throwing the bombs when I as shorthopping back onto the stage.

 

[Demacrez]

So I found this video and could find here on the boards so I decided to share it here in the Link boards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LE1emLDAZ8

Apparently, you can dash smash in this game (if no one knew about this) and knowing how good bad Link's DA is, I thought maybe this could help us.

I don't have time to test this out right now so if anyone has already or is gonna, please let us know if it really helps out Link!

 

[ShinTwist ScreamPaste]

So I found this video and could find here on the boards so I decided to share it here in the Link boards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LE1emLDAZ8

Apparently, you can dash smash in this game (if no one knew about this) and knowing how good bad Link's DA is, I thought maybe this could help us.

I don't have time to test this out right now so if anyone has already or is gonna, please let us know if it really helps out Link!

Oh thank Hylia, I can't stand our new Dash. I'll be picking this up immediately.

 

[Ryu_Ken]

So I found this video and could find here on the boards so I decided to share it here in the Link boards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LE1emLDAZ8

Apparently, you can dash smash in this game (if no one knew about this) and knowing how good bad Link's DA is, I thought maybe this could help us.

I don't have time to test this out right now so if anyone has already or is gonna, please let us know if it really helps out Link!

This is awesome! Adding it to the OP. Will update if we can get a Link version of this vid.

 

[Elessar]

This is awesome! Adding it to the OP. Will update if we can get a Link version of this vid.

I've been trying to foxtrot and pivot dash with Link but the timing is insanely hard. Haven't been able to so far.

Now, for this, you don't actually need to foxtrot, just dash normally but do the dash cancel into fsmash at the end.

 

[Zekken]

Gay has a pretty darn good slide...[/quote]
Who the heck is gay
Also I seem to only understand 50% of what you say
Is there a beginner thread Im not worthy to be here

 

[Elessar]

Who the heck is gay
Also I seem to only understand 50% of what you say
Is there a beginner thread Im not worthy to be here

Start by going through the stickies, all of them, specially Blubba's guide. You'll find who gay is in the smash dictionary thread.

 

[ShinTwist ScreamPaste]

I've been trying to foxtrot and pivot dash with Link but the timing is insanely hard. Haven't been able to so far.

Now, for this, you don't actually need to foxtrot, just dash normally but do the dash cancel into fsmash at the end.

For me, likely due to my experience with Brawl, it seems easier to simply pivot walk into a Kara Smash, but I just don't feel as slippery as I used to. Link's old hoverboot physics were admittedly badass for sliding Ftilts.

 

[Elessar]

For me, likely due to my experience with Brawl, it seems easier to simply pivot walk into a Kara Smash, but I just don't feel as slippery as I used to. Link's old hoverboot physics were admittedly badass for sliding Ftilts.

You know, I have no idea why they're changing the name of everything. It saddens me to see people being wowed and renaming super old ATs, like craqwalk or pivot smashing. They were all talking as if they had engineered AI when they stumbled on pivot attacks, and called it something super stupid, like "Reverse Attack Extended Range".

 

[ShinTwist ScreamPaste]

You know, I have no idea why they're changing the name of everything. It saddens me to see people being wowed and renaming super old ATs, like craqwalk or pivot smashing. They were all talking as if they had engineered AI when they stumbled on pivot attacks, and called it something super stupid, like "Reverse Attack Extended Range".

There it is. Craqwalk, I'd been wondering what we used to call it, and I'm frankly too old and crusty to use 'swag walk' without spitting on the floor immediately after, so I just settled on pivot walk. Craqwalk it is.

 

[Vonzar the Soulrender]

So around 3am some Link mains and I, were discussing jab cancels thoroughly. Summing up the discussion here:

Link's jab cancel is now a true combo at most percents, on most but not all characters.

1st hit of jab confirm goes into ,dsmash, utilt, ftilt and grab.

2nd hit is not always as dependable but still works in many situations

Continuously jab canceling the first hit is possible with good timing

 

[Elessar]

So around 3am some Link mains and I, were discussing jab cancels thoroughly. Summing up the discussion here:

Link's jab cancel is now a true combo at most percents, on most but not all characters.

1st hit of jab confirm goes into ,dsmash, utilt, ftilt and grab.

2nd hit is not always as dependable but still works in many situations

Continuously jab canceling the first hit is possible with good timing

How many times can Jab 1 be cancelled before it's escapable/Shieldable?

 

[Culix]

So I found this video and could find here on the boards so I decided to share it here in the Link boards:

Apparently, you can dash smash in this game (if no one knew about this) and knowing how good bad Link's DA is, I thought maybe this could help us.

I don't have time to test this out right now so if anyone has already or is gonna, please let us know if it really helps out Link!

Holy crap dude. I didn't know about this. I'll try it out and see what I can do

 

[WolfieXVII ❂]

God this thread is so useful

 

[Demacrez]

Okay, so I actually went and tested a few things with the video I linked. It seems stutter step (I'm just gonna call it that) doesn't really work for Link in comparison to his actual dash. They both seem to travel nearly the same so it doesn't feel different. What that does mean though is that you can use this stutter step into FSmash, DSmash, or USmash. You can cancel your dash into a stutter step then cancel it with a Smash attack.

I tried doing it normally without stutter step and had some lag issues but using SS allowed me to cancel early. This now makes it where you can actually space Link's FSmash even if you run away! You can dash or stutter step away and FSmash the other direction to get a backwards (or slightly backwards) moving FSmash. So this'll help with the tipper process.

Also, I found utilizing reverse FTilt can be useful if you want the advantage frames on psyching out the opponent. Simply do a stutter step then press back and z button. Since it's a bad input your character will automatically perform an FTilt. Now then, Link's Tilt and Smash are nearly identical in damage, KB, and recovery so that makes it good and bad.

Another thing I was messing around was turn grabs. Messing around with Lucina and found you can do a fade away turn grab with her so I decided to test it out with Link. Unfortunately, he does not have such a thing but the process is similar to stutter step so you can actually do a turn around grab with of course the extended grab range. All you simply have to do is tap one direction, roll the stick the other way but not completely so it stops at an forward/down direction and Link will perform a turn around grab.

If the last part is common knowledge (which I believe it is), I apologize. I was just testing these things out and found some of these to be interesting and wanted to share. They look useful, especially for Link since he needs some more tools for the slaughter shed.

 

[Ryu_Ken]

@ Demacrez good stuff. Pivot grab had been known for some time, but a foxtrot (or stutter step in your words) is a pretty interesting way to delay it.

 

[FSK]

My own experience so far (no specific order)

Terrible matchups for Link:
R.O.B.
Sheik
Olimar
Sonic
Fox
ZSS

 

[Fox Is Openly Deceptive]

Okay, so I actually went and tested a few things with the video I linked. It seems stutter step (I'm just gonna call it that) doesn't really work for Link in comparison to his actual dash. They both seem to travel nearly the same so it doesn't feel different. What that does mean though is that you can use this stutter step into FSmash, DSmash, or USmash. You can cancel your dash into a stutter step then cancel it with a Smash attack.

I'm sorry, but how exactly did you cancel the initial frames of a Dash with a D-smash? That's not possible. In fact the impossibility of this is the basis for the Instant Dash Attack tech. I get that you can cancel it with a F-smash (hence why it was originally known in full as a Stutter Step F-smash as far as I'm aware) and using an U-smash out of the initial dash is just a Hyphen Smash, but cancelling the initial frames of a Dash with a D-smash isn't a thing. You can however do a D-smash out of a True Pivot, which is something else entirely. This is where you cancel the initial dash with a pivot, and at that point you can D-smash. Maybe this is what you were doing? The True Pivot (or 'Perfect Pivot') can be used in the same way a Stutter Step can, that is, out of a Foxtrot.
[This reminds me though; I need to add the stutter step to the dictionary.]

 

[Demacrez]

Interesting. I was using the same method the video was showing but instead of forward on the C-Stick, I decided to use it downwards. I still get a slight movement forward, perform a DSmash but still stay facing where I was going.

I have time tomorrow to try this out again. Maybe I was timing it wrong and thinking I was getting it but I thought the wrong timing would get me the Dash Attack. Again, I'll look more into this.

 

[BryE]

So since Zdropping bombs causes you to Zair, has anyone messed around with utilizing it near the ledge? I haven't messed around with it in actual matches but I think I may have found a few interesting things. (Could be old news to everyone else though)

 

[Vonzar the Soulrender]

So since Zdropping bombs causes you to Zair, has anyone messed around with utilizing it near the ledge? I haven't messed around with it in actual matches but I think I may have found a few interesting things. (Could be old news to everyone else though)

Actually yeah. I was using it in tournament today to block options. I was using it on people who were recovering mid or high to hit take up their options. It's effective on some characters but not on others.

 

[BryE]

Actually yeah. I was using it in tournament today to block options. I was using it on people who were recovering mid or high to hit take up their options. It's effective on some characters but not on others.

I noticed if you still have your double jump, you can zair the ledge while z dropping the bomb, cancel the zair, and catch the bomb with an aerial. It's sorta useless in a way but I thought it was kinda flashy. lol

Another thing that I wanna start doing is chaining z-dropped bombs with Bairs. Since bombs don't harm Link anymore when they hit his opponent, I feel as if this could be a safe option against characters who are shielding (possibly going for a shield grab). I'll need to put more time into this so I can see how effective it is.

 

[A_Phoenix_Down]

Up-tilt is insane. Get someone caught in it and they're percent will go from 0-80 instantly.

At least on Marth. Was wailing on 3 different ones today. Made all 3 quit

 

[Dumbfire]

Utilt punishes the rollers who try to roll behind you too, and you can use it while standing with your back to the ledge when edgeguarding.

 

[Ieven]

Do you know guys how D-tilt spike in SSB4 ? I tried several times, i didn't find out.

 

[ShinTwist ScreamPaste]

Dtilt spike has never been practical so I haven't bothered experimenting with it. I spend more time trying to predict ledge get ups with Dair than anything.

 

[Zelkam]

Do you know guys how D-tilt spike in SSB4 ? I tried several times, i didn't find out.

If you wanna know about dtilt spike then @ Rizen is the one to ask

 

[Rizen]

Do you know guys how D-tilt spike in SSB4 ? I tried several times, i didn't find out.

http://smashboards.com/threads/guid...t-link-in-smash-4.368190/page-4#post-18070535
^Here's how it works.

TBH, it's not really worth trying. Maybe if the opponent is trying to pass through a floor from below, like Delfino, but Dair's probably easier to land. If the opponent is on the ledge Ftilt is the better option; it hits below the ledge and covers above and in front of Link in case the opponent jumps, stands etc.

 

[FGC-Oni]

So I'm new here and I'm curious if some of you could elaborate on a general strategy when playing Link. Most of the time I find myself throwing boomerangs and arrows trying to entice players to come near me. When this happens I generally play a footsie game and try to catch my opponent with a tilt or smash attack. I have no idea how to pull off "combos" in this game as I come from a traditional fighting game background I.E. MK or SF. I also probably use Links dash attack more than I should, but it seems to catch a lot of people on 3DS not so much Wii U lmao.

Surely there's more to it that spamming projectiles and spacing. Am I missing something? Please keep in mind from a technical standpoint I know little to nothing about Smash as even though I've played almost every Smash game this is the first one I'm taking seriously. I appreciate and feedback or tips.

 

[Rizen]

So I'm new here and I'm curious if some of you could elaborate on a general strategy when playing Link. Most of the time I find myself throwing boomerangs and arrows trying to entice players to come near me. When this happens I generally play a footsie game and try to catch my opponent with a tilt or smash attack. I have no idea how to pull off "combos" in this game as I come from a traditional fighting game background I.E. MK or SF. I also probably use Links dash attack more than I should, but it seems to catch a lot of people on 3DS not so much Wii U lmao.

Surely there's more to it that spamming projectiles and spacing. Am I missing something? Please keep in mind from a technical standpoint I know little to nothing about Smash as even though I've played almost every Smash game this is the first one I'm taking seriously. I appreciate and feedback or tips.

The metagame for SSB4 is still in it's infancy so a lot will change and be discovered but here's how I see it now:
Link really is about spacing as he has a long sword reach, Zair and 3 projectiles but his attacks are slower (jab is frame 7 as opposed to Little Mac's jab on frame 1). There aren't true combos so much as chains of attacks and frame traps. For example at low damage %s Link's Utilt>utilt>Usmash is extremely hard to escape. At a higher % he might Utilt>Usmash instead because the opponent will be hit farther and escape if Link does the 2nd Utilt. Jab 1 then cancels into a stronger attack like Dsmash or grab.
Link also has 3 projectiles that can be onscreen at the same time and used for frame traps. Things like pull bomb>throw boomerang>throw bomb (so it hits while the opponent reacts to the boomerang)>Utilt while the opponent is in the bomb's hit stun> jump and Uair. Bombs are very good for setting up combos because if the hit the opponent the explosion will not hurt Link and he can follow up by reading the spacing and attack the hitstun.

Another big point of Smash is character must return to the stage. If an opponent is falling down to the stage then "juggle" them by throwing bombs up, Utilt, Uair, Usmash depending on how far above they are to hit them up and repeat as they come down. If the opponent uses their 2nd jump they won't get it back until they land or grab the ledge (some characters like MK and Jiggs have several jumps though).
If the opponent is offstage the usually have limited movement options. Throw a boomerang and they try to dodge so jump out and Fair/Nair/Dair whatever.

 

[Ieven]

http://smashboards.com/threads/guid...t-link-in-smash-4.368190/page-4#post-18070535

So it works as the same way as Brawl ?

 

[Rizen]

So it works as the same way as Brawl ?

It looks that way. It's hard to say for sure without being able to see the hitbubbles; they might be slightly larger.

 

[Drigo Toes]

Well, in my first Day of Smashing i found an interesting technique, but i haven't a way to record it.

If you have a bomb in your hand and while crouched you press C stick in the direction you are seeing, you actually perform a Ftilt.

If you want to do it while standing, you have to perform a Hadoken (down - diag - forward + A).

 

[ShinTwist ScreamPaste]

Well, in my first Day of Smashing i found an interesting technique, but i haven't a way to record it.

If you have a bomb in your hand and while crouched you press C stick in the direction you are seeing, you actually perform a Ftilt.

If you want to do it while standing, you have to perform a Hadoken (down - diag - forward + A).

And into training mode I go, this sounds really useful, if indeed it is true.