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Advanced Tech, Data thread + Gifs (1/12/2017)

Hunybear

Smash Ace
Joined
Sep 27, 2013
Messages
405
Location
Nashville Tennessee
Yo, I’m hunybear and this is my Link Advanced technical Data thread. The point of this thread will be to document all Link's advanced tech as well as how to perform them. It will not however, teach all their practical application. Not all tech here will be practical, but if possible i’ll document it here. If you have any suggestions or Corrections please tag me in the comments and i’ll be sure to get back to you.


For all tech involving projectiles please see my projectile Tech/Data thread.

____________
To Be Added

  • Probably frame windows for execution purposes.
  • Other Tech
  • Gifs on the new sections
___________
Whats New?
  • Jab cancel bomb catch
  • Teeter cancel WL
  • Lifting AI input window table
  • SH Double F-air
_________
The Tech

*Jab Cancel
Jab canceling is when Link activates the IASA frames of his jab by buffering crouch and performed a move out of it. Link can perform any move out of crouch on the very first frame. Link can use crouch to interrupt the first jab on frame 20, and the second jab on frame 18. If spaced properly this is a surprisingly powerful pressure tool, especially against characters with weak OOS options. Out of crouch you can perform d-tilt and down smash, which are amazing shield poking tools. You can also JC grab out of crouch to start a big punish out of your pressure or simply where down the shield by resetting the control stick back to neutral and performing more jabs. As a result of it’s disjointed range, well spaced jab pressure is very difficult to punish OOS, despite second jab being -7 on shield. Most characters are forced to retreat because if they were to attempt a counter attack they would be caught in the next moves hit.

*Spin Hog
If Link performs a grounded up-B near the ledge with enough horizontal velocity (from walk, dash, run, WD, WL, moon walk, etc.), the momentum will carry him off the ledge. Link can grab the ledge regardless of which direction he’s facing. Link’s aerial up-B will normally only allow link to grab ledge on frame 42 onward, but spin hogging will allow him to grab the ledge as soon as the ledge grab box overlaps the ledge. When Link slides off the ledge, the grounded up-b hit boxes will become the aerial up-b hitboxes for the rest of the move. You can be traveling too fast off stage to where you may miss the ledge and fall to your death. Holding towards the ledge will almost always save Link from flying to far to grab the ledge. Link can even spin hog from side platforms. Link can also ledge cancel his aerial up-B.

*Ledge Canceled Up-B
This is a rare occurrence and normally only happens when attempting a failed spin hog. Essentially Link will ledge cancel a grounded up-B by sliding off the ledge for one frame and land back on stage the next by holding in.

*Grabbing Aerial Opponents.
Link can only grab aerial opponents on frames 11,12, and 13 of his standing grab and only with the grab boxes attached to the hand that holds the hook shot. This means you have to be very close to the opponent. Although dash attack does have a hand grab box one frame 12, it does not allow Link to grab aerial opponents.

*Perfect WaveLand
A perfect WL is performed when an air-dodge can be input while the joy stick is held directly to the side. This happens in Links case because when he is fall animation his ECG is smaller on the bottom than when he is in his air dodge animation. When Link inputs the air dodge his ECG stretches to the ground and he'll gain maximum horizontal velocity from the air dodge.
The are two timing windows for the Perfect WL. If Link performs a forward or neutral jump he must input the air-dodge 1 frame before Landing. (must be frame perfect). If Link performs a Back jump he must input the air-dodge 2 frames before landing.



(The frame Link must Input Air dodge for forward and neutral jump)


*Moon Walking
Link is very fortunate in that he is one of the few characters that can moonwalk out of his dash. This is not a huge advantage in the slightest as moonwalking is not a very practical tech in tournament play, tho it is very stylish.


Moonwalking is the result of Link accelerating behind himself. Acceleration is determined by the position held by the stick. So when Link dashes in one direction but the stick it held the other you accelerate in the direction of the stick regardless of what direction you are facing. There is a catch to this technique because if you go through the center (neutral position) of the stick it will initiate a dash in the other direction instead of a moonwalk. The only way to avoid dashing back is to avoid going through the center by going beneath the neutral position (as going above will cause link to jump). Most player will just opt to quickly rotate the stick 180 degrees under the neutral position and , tho it will grant link some backward velocity, it is far from a full length moonwalk.


The basic idea of performing a great moonwalk is to minimize the forward momentum of the dash, while maximizing the backward velocity of the moonwalk. The best possible moonwalk is performed by first walking in the direction you intend to moonwalk. This is important because when Link dashes back he’ll already have backward velocity carried over from walking. When Link dashes back, make sure you input the dash as low on the control stick as possible. The lower You begin the initial dash, the less forward acceleration link will have from the dash. (note you can see this by running and then rotating the dash down one notch. There should be a noticeable decrease in speed) After dashing you must attempt to move the stick as quickly as possible to the other sides horizontal notch. The faster you reach the opposite notch, the sooner Link will begin traveling backwards (and less time fighting the forward momentum of the initial dash) You’ll want to get there as directly as possible while attempting to about the bottom notch (as it will take up acceleration time) and the neutral position (because it will cause dash). Once Link has arrived at the opposite notch he must hold that direction for the duration of the moonwalk in order to maximize distance. The moment Link stops holding back he will also stop accelerating backwards. Link can hold back for the entirety of his dash animation (which is 30 frames.)


Chaining moonwalks together is fairly straightforward. Chaining moonwalks together is when Link interrupts his dash animation with another dash and moonwalks out of that dash. Doing this repeatedly will garner lots of backward momentum. Although Link can hold back for 30 frames and ideally he would because he’ll get the most out of each moonwalk, Link can however, dash out of dash on frame 20 and onward. (this creates a 10 frame window for repeated moonwalks.)


*Perfect Moonwalk
There exists another form of the moonwalk dubbed the “Perfect Moonwalk”

The perfect moonwalk is performed by dashing in one direction, then on the first frame of the dash move the joystick to the backward notch. If done correctly the game will have never read the joystick going through neutral. This is because on one frame the stick was on one side and on the next frame it was on the other. This technique is considered to be impossible to perform consistently outside of TAS.

*Sticky Walk
A sticky walk is performed by entering the run animation out of a moonwalk. This can be done by first completing the moonwalk. Then between frames 20 and 30, if you roll the stick down and toward the direction Link initially dashed. If done correctly link will begin to run forward exceedingly slowly. This is because the speed the run animation is played directly corresponds with Links horizontal velocity, so because link has no forward momentum the game slows the animation until he does.

*Charlie Walk
A Charlie walk is another tech performed using the backward velocity granted from moonwalking. It involves creating the maximum amount of backward velocity from a moonwalk and then rolling the stick forward again in order to sticky walk. When performing a sticky walk you’ll want to immediately smash the stick back in the direction you moonwalked. This will cause Link to enter his “TurnRun” animation, which grants him a seemingly explosive amount of speed until Link enters his normal run.


*Ledge Sweet Spots
Sweet spotting the ledge is performed by grabbing the ledge from the lowest and furthest possible distance. Doing this minimizes the risk of being hit away from the stage again from an onstage opponent. The distance Link can grab the ledge from is determined by his ledge grab box in relation to the animation he is in. The time window for grabbing the ledge is also dependent on the animation.


The numbers are the earliest possible ledge grab frame.

DJ - 20


Tether Jump- 25


Up-B- 42



*BF Sweet Spot
The battlefield sweet spot is a technique that allows link to stall his up-b under battlefield until he can grab ledge safely. This is done because Links up-B can only grab the ledge on frame 42 and onward. If Link allows himself to stay under battlefield until frame 42 then drift toward the ledge, he will grab ledge with little risk of being hit. The easiest setup for this is to tether jump from under BF.

*Raising N-air
A common tactic that takes advantage of Links amazingly long n-air is full hop -> instant raising n-air. This is great for snuffing full hops as well as baiting OOS options. Link can interrupt his n-air on frame 36 and start another n-air before hitting the ground. This is called full hop double n-air. You can connect two n-airs together almost instantly if you land the first hit late enough. You can also DJ


N-Air Data

Total: 39
Hit: 4-39
IASA: 36
Auto cancel: <3 32>
Landlag: 15
Lcanceled: 7


*SH B-air DJ
Link can double jump out of his short hop b-air. The timing window changes as a result of a weird gravity quark. When aerials are performed on the very first frame of being airborne, gravity effects that character on that frame and shortens the total air time. This is why the timing window for DJ out of b-air is two frames when done the first airborne frame and three frames if done on the second airborne frame. Link can not air dodge out of the IASA frames, this is why he can DJ or attack, but not WL out of b-air. Link can however WL out if the DJ. *important note! Tap jump buffers a DJ for 3 frames. This makes DJing out of SH b-air super consistent.

*Notable Auto Canceled Aerials
SH N-air
In order to auto cancel a short hop n-air Link must perform the n-air on the second aerial frame of his short hop. This is extremely difficult as you must be frame perfect.

Sh B-air
The most commonly known and practical of links auto canceled aerials. If link performs a b-air within the first 4 frames of SHing it will auto cancel. This can combo into lot of his other moves. Most notably grab, D-smash, and U-tilt.

Top plate full hop D-air

If Link performs an instant full hop raising D-air from any legal stages top platform, it will auto cancel.

SH Double hit F-Air

It is only possible to get both hits of F-air out of a short hop if Link inputs the F-air on the second aerial frame.

Jab Cancel Item Catch

This probably belongs in the projectile thread but I'm putting it here.
Link can interrupt any of his jab animations at any time with an item catch. this makes throwing bombs and jabbing on shield a very effective strategy.


*DJ Ledge Stall
It is important to note that Links “CLIFFCATCH” animation is only 3 frames as opposed to the normal 7, but he still only has 30 frames of actionable invincibility like everyone else.

There are two types of DJ ledge stall. One being where you FF immediately and the other where you DJ immediately. Keep in mind that Link’s ledge grab only lasts 3 frames and you can not re-grab the ledge until the 30 frames of invincibility has ended. Also keep in mind that link can only grab ledge out of DJ on frame 20 and onward.


Low ledge stall-
This is the one where if Link were to FF immediately and double jump between frames <5-8 > he would re-grab the ledge completely invincible. If he were to perform it any sooner he would go above the ledge, and any later he would not reach the ledge.

High ledge stall-
Link must immediately DJ from the ledge and FF between frames <21-25> to grab ledge fully invincible. If he FF to early link will not grab ledge as the result of his invincibility, and if he FF to late Link will not be invincible

*Hax Dash
The Hax dash is ledge dashing back and re-grabbing the ledge with full invincibility. I’ll be covering two ways of performing a Hax dash with Link. The first being the earliest possible WL and then the latest possible WL. Keep in mind that Link Can not Grab ledge during the 30 frames on intangibility. He can only grab the ledge 30 frames after releasing the ledge.

(Numbers assume link DJ on earliest possible frame.)

Earliest possible air dodge
(air dodge frame 7)

Note that when Link performs the earliest possible air dode he does not FF to grab ledge. If he were to FF he would miss the ledge re-grab entirely because Link can not grab ledge while invicible.


Latest possible air-dodge

(Air dodge frame 17)

Link has to perform a FF in order to grab ledge fully invincible.

*Invincible Ledge Dash
A ledge dash is where Link quicky DJs from the ledge and air dodges into the stage. The ledge grants every character 30 frames of invincibility from the ledge every time it is grabbed. If Link were to let go of the ledge the first actionable frame and immediately DJ. He could Wl on the Stage and still have 9 frames of actionable invincibility frames left.


Invincible Options from ledge.

  • Jab
  • Up-Tilt
  • D-Smash
  • Bomb
  • Up-B
  • Shield
  • N-air

*Lifting Aerial Interrupt.
An aerial interrupt is the act of using an aerial to manipulate a characters ECG in order to move around stage in ways that otherwise wouldn't be possible. This is demonstrated in Links Raising aerial interrupt, where normally if Link were to Ledge dash off stage he could not reach the side platforms with a DJ. This can be done on BF and YS.

Lifting AI input window on BF
DJ first aerial frame
╔════════╤═══════╤═══════╗
║Move....│Early..│Late...║
╟────────┼───────┼───────╢
║N-Air...│1......│20.....║
║F-Air...│1......│20.....║
║U-Air...│12.....│17.....║
║B-Air...│1......│23.....║
║D-Air...│8......│18.....║
║BombPull│1......│18.....║
║Rang....│1......│20.....║
╚════════╧═══════╧═══════╝
Note that the later link waits to DJ the smaller the frame windows gets.
If Link attempts this tech with a bomb throw it will not work unless he AGT upward. If he performs the AGT then eh will land on the side platform with any throw.

*Perfect Ledge Dash
Link can perform a frame perfect ledge dash from if he grabs the ledge from the furthest possible distance (this shortens the bottom of his ECG (it also happens when you tether)) and Air dodges out of the DJ on frame 5, he can retain 12 frames of actionable invincibility.


*DJ NIL
If Link times an instant DJ underneath platforms in such a way that he is above the platform at the apex of hi jump, he will land on the platform with only one frame of landing lag. The timing window for the double jump is dependant on the height of the platforms as well as if link is jumping forward, backward or straight up. This technique is called a “No Impact Land.” It occurs when Link’s ECB “environment collision box” collides with the ground with a downward velocity of greater than or equal to negative one. The practical applications of this tech are readily apparent as Link can get to platforms and act on them sooner than a WL. You’ll know if you've successfully performed a NIL if Link is lands on a platform and no dust effect is present.

Jump window for NIL Table.
(numbers represent earliest frame available to DJ)
(Directions correspond with jump animation.)

╔═══════╤════════╤════════╤════════╗
║Stage..│Forward.│Neutral.│Back....║
╟───────┼────────┼────────┼────────╢
║BF.....│2.......│2.......│1.......║
║DL.....│4.......│4.......│3.......║
║FD.....│N/A.....│N/A.....│N/A.....║
║FoD....│N/A.....│N/A.....│N/A.....║
║YS High│1.......│1.......│1.......║
║YS Low.│2.......│2.......│1.......║
║PS.....│1.......│1.......│1.......║
╚═══════╧════════╧════════╧════════╝


DJ NIL vs WL vs Teeter Cancel on BF.

This test was only performed with neutral jumps. I buffered shield to find the first actionable frame. All numbers represent the total number of frames it takes link to jump from the stage and be actionable on the platform. (note* the number next to DJ represents the aerial frame the DJ was input)
╔═════╤═══════╤═══════╤══╗
║WL...│DJ... 2│DJ... 3│Teeter║
╟─────┼───────┼───────┼─╢
║29...│28.....│22.....│21....║
╚═════╧═══════╧═══════╧══╝

*WL Teeter Cancel

Ordinarily when Link WLs or WDs he is stuck in 10 frames of landing lag, but if he WL into a ledge while facing it he will immediately go into his Teeter animation. allowing hit to be actionable in 1 frame.

*Platform Canceled Aerials
A platform canceled aerial is performed when Link drops through a platform and immediately hits an opponent with N-air or U-air, then lands on that same platform. This is possible because whenever a character goes airborn their ECB is locked into a base position for 9 frames and updates on the tenth. It even stays in this locked position during aerials. It is important to hit someone in order for this tech to work because the Base Position of the ECB it below the platform, but luckily it counts the 9 frames through hitlag. The hitlag will keep Link in place long enough for the ECG to update on the tenth frame and be above the platform when hitlag ends. It will not auto cancel the lag so you’ll still need to L-cancel.

Frame window for Plat cancel aerials
╔══════════╤════════════╗
║Move......│Frame Window║
╟──────────┼────────────╢
║N-Air.....│2...........║
║U-Air.....│1...........║
╚══════════╧════════════╝
 
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