Since we are talking about bad characters now. I think Link is bottom 5. All of the things people complained about got nerfed, and then so did everything else. He has trash tier mobility, with a terrible dash speed, DD length, 2nd worst WD, and jump height that goes nowhere. His boomerang doesn't set up for combos anymore until higher %s. Link doesn't have a move that he can jump offstage and intercept your recovery with, and then make it back himself, since all his aerials that he could survive using are too weak to kill people. Link's best bet at edgeguarding is to try and get his opponent to miss their sweetspot so Link can get them with a grounded Up-B. Here are some of my thoughts on his changes:
Warrented Nerfs:
-Boomerang: throw speed, it was way too spamable.
-Recovery: that was the theme of 3.5, fine with this.
-Uptilt: now it doesn't chain into itself x3 after d-throw.
-Dash Attack- same as Uptilt, doesn't chain into itself x3.
Gone Too Far Nerfs:
-Nair: PMDT decided to normalize KBG on sex kicks as if they were all created equal. Only Link's sweetspot (on his foot) nair does 11%. Fox's sex kick doesn't need to be sweetspoted to do 12%, plus his SHFFL speed is twice as fast as Link's. Link used to be able to jump off stage with a nair to stuff recoveries, now the move is so week that this just resets their UP-B and makes it easier for the opponent to come back.
-Boomerang: KB angle. The point of this move is to set up for a combo off a hit confirm, it no longer does that reliably
-F tilt: i always thought of this move as the inverse of dash attack, >tilt has slow startup, low endlag, and high horrizontal KB. Dash attack has low startup, high endlag, and high verticle KB. Ftilt used to kill horizontally at ~120%. Now it will never kill anyone, and frankly, this move serves no purpose in Link's current kit.
-Bombs: you wont see this on Link's changelog, but his bombs only go half the distance they used to when you throw them.
side question: i swear aerial up-B doesn't go as far. Either the hoz drift is less, verticle height is less, or the grab box is just smaller. There have been so many times where i have missed the ledge that i think i would have gotten if it were 3.0. Is there any truth to this?