AlMoStLeGeNdArY
Smash Hero
Introduction
I’m writing this guide for two reasons one I don’t like the way the community guide for Zelda went and I also feel as though there’s some potential with Zelda that’s not being tapped into yet. This guide won’t cover everything just some things that I wanted to touch upon and maybe some more stuff will come later.
Spacing
Spacing the first thing I’d like to bring up with Zelda is spacing I believe it’s an extremely vital aspect to her game. Bad spacing will lead to punishment. You should try to learn the max distance on her moves. When use the moves at max distance it allows for some of them to be safe and makes it harder for your opponent to hit out of your moves on start up. Your go to spacing tool will be fsmash. It has the most range and is mostly safe on shield. You shouldn’t run around throwing out a bunch of fsmashes though you should mix in jabs, ftilts and dtilt into your spacing game. It is essential to know how or when to effectively use those tools since bad usage will lead to being punished hard. Of the moves listed ftilt is least safe on shield. Jab has the least amount of range. If you start to be predictable your opponent will more than likely pick up it and adjust you.
Punishing with Zelda
Because of the KO power that Zelda has some of her punishes can be extremely brutal. Some player will tell you that Zelda OoS (out of shield) options are poor but landing twenty-one damage with a potential for a mid percentage KO is nothing to scuff at. She also has Usmash OoS which isn’t too shabby either. She also has shield grab, but she will be hard press to land that grab. Knowing which of your opponent’s moves on your shield can go a long way to landing those grabs.
Knowing your Enemy
It’s the art of war, how do you expect to be able win when you only aware of what Zelda can do. You must learn other characters their best spacing tools their best aerial moves and their best kill moves. Once you know their options you can use Zelda to cover your opponent’s options and then limit what their character can do. However, some characters moves are so good that you’re best off not even challenger them and you should probably retreat and try something different. You should also be aware of your opponents recovery habits (high or low using up B or just floats back to sage) also be aware of how many jumps they have.
Ledge Trapping
When an opponent is on the ledge Zelda is at a total advantage you can just about sit there (around fsmash range) and wait and Zelda will cover all of their options. Between Usmash & fsmash you can make it extremely difficult for an opponent to safely get off of the ledge. Depending on how “physic” you are you may be able to get an uair (if you get the right read) This is truly a spot on the stage where Zelda shines.
Din’s Fire
Probably one of Zelda’s most controversial moves it’s easy for people to say it’s trash. But, that’s not always the case with this move. It’s one of the most unique projectiles in the game. For one its properties are different from other projectiles and it can also be somewhat controlled. You’re not going to win projectiles wars with this however; it can be possible to cancel some projectiles with this move. Then you also need to take into account that the move can be canceled out by some attacks. Most of the time when it’s canceled b y attacks it’s really hard to punish Zelda since she should be doing this from full screen or when the opponent is recovering. Using Din’s like this allows Zelda a safe way to harass opponents from full screen.
While an opponent is recovery they have three ways of dealing with Din’s fire. They can cancel dins with an attack, air dodge or take the hit. Depending on the position of your opponent’s character to Zelda you can potentially bait and punish the air dodge (if they’re trying to land on stage). Most take note of how your opponent recovers if they like to recovery high or low and how many jumps they have. Some characters like to recovery low (Marth) where as others like to recover on the stage (Lucario). If they decide to recover low just remember you have a potential edge hog opportunity so grab the ledge and then punish hard (LK).
Limiting your Opponent’s option
I feel as though with Zelda she is can do a pretty decent job at limiting the opponent’s options. Not many characters have answers for fsmash at max range. Though there are some moves which out range it but some can take longer to start up. Just know that if you’re off with your space you will get hit with a smash attack. For example if Zelda whiffs her smash attack she’ll be at perfect tipper frange for Marth’s fsmash. So you’re using your fmash to limit your opponents options so now you’re opponent adjust and decide to attack from the air. So depending on the character Zelda can handle most characters in the air thanks to her usmash. Some opponent’s move can beat Zelda’s usmash like Ness’s fair (if it’s spaced really well). If usmash for whatever reason isn’t working while they’re approaching from the air then there’s up angled ftilt, utilt, nair and jab. Utilt will more than likely trade but depending on the percentages and with utilt’s kill power the trade can be worth it. Zelda can wall characters with out disjointed hit boxes with any mixture of nair fsmash jab and dtilt. This can make it extremely difficult and aggravating for your opponent to get in.
Risk vs. Reward
Because of the properties of Zelda’s moves (transcendent priority) they will most likely trade and the trades won’t be in your favor. There is one move that is worth trading with and that’s utilt because of it’s ko potential and taking advantage of the transcendent priority you can almost always get trades to be in your favor with this moves (percentages dependent of course). Also don’t attempt to put yourself in a bad position just to try and be fancy. You must be able to analyze the pros and con’s of each situation and if a move isn’t worth the risk you should just avoid it.
Nair
I’m not sure if there’s much I can say about this move it is with out a doubt her best aerial. This move is like a jumping dtilt when you land before the move is finished you get an insane amount of frame advantage. This means Zelda has true combo and it also one of Zelda’s few moves that aren’t dependent on an opponents DI. This move can link into bair/fair/dtilt/ftilt/usmash/dsmash/everything. Learn how to make use of the follows up incorporate this move into your game it is a staple.
Another thing with nair is that it seems to be pretty effective when your opponent is above you shielding (BF platform). When their shield is a little diminished nair seems to just take your opponent into the move. Against larger characters it can be very effective. If you couldn’t tell by know Zelda gets a huge advantage when she is below her opponent. So other than your opponent being on a ledge you also want your opponent to be above you. Nair is a good move but it does have it’s limits against characters with disjointed hitboxes their move will beat this. Instead look for a situation where the moves are most effective and exploit them.
Dthrow tech Chase?
Zelda’s dthrow has follow ups if your opponent doesn’t Di. If they on’t hen you get your follows up if you land a dthrow you can look to see if they DI or attempt a follow. If they do DI Zelda can chase after them and your opponent has a couple of options after they’ve DI’d (Jump/attack/land). You should be ready for these situation and know what to do incase they do any of these things. The easiest one to deal with is the attack after a dthrow you can easily shield the attack and then grab and dthrow again basically resetting the situation. If they jump you can sometimes catch their jump with usmash. But it’s not worth it sometimes. Since they jumped they no longer have their double jump (except characters with multiple jumps) if that’s the case then they’ve played right into your hands. Since now they have to try and safely land with out a double jump (limiting their options). The final thing they can do is land and shield which can be a problem because theirs really no way you can cover this option. You can try dash grab but they’ll just spot doge maybe you can fsmash their shield but it really doesn’t lead to much. It doesn’t give you an advantage but you’re also not at a disadvantage. If you see that your opponent knows how to DI your dthrow then go with uthrow. Uthrow puts Zelda into an advantageous situation and with a good read you can potentially land an uair (early ko).
Jab
Is another of those awkward moves that Zelda has. It’s one of the slowest jabs in the game and it also can’t e jab canceled. With that said it has some good range for a jab and provides good frame advantage (on hit). It allows remains relatively safe on shield (spacing dependent) which allows you to poke at shields safely. It can also stuff some SH approaches although I wouldn’t do this too often but it’s nice to throw different things at your opponent. If you do happen to land jab you do have follows up dash attack and dash grab. I’d go with dash grab since you can get some dthrow/uthrow shenanigans. Learn how to use this move isn’t great but can be a solid tool depending on the MU.
Recovering with Zelda
The last topic I want to discuss is Zelda's recovery or more to the point recovering with Zelda. The basic that everyone knows about Zelda's recovery is the multi direction it can be started in. The slow start the hellish ending lag. It's also stops at walls and sweet spot the ledge is almost always your safest way to recover. I say almost always because if someone times a ledge grab properly Zelda wall fall to her death. Since the second hit of Zelda's up B will not knock them off because of the invincibility frames. Now that should be common knowledge to most if not all Zelda mains. If it isn't then you learned something however, it's still good to always go over the basic every now and again.
Now that the basic is out of the way the aspect of her recovering that I would like to discuss isn't just limited to her up B. I also would like to take into account how do you momentum cancel with Zelda. The way you momentum cancel. For instance if we look are using regular momentum cancel which is fastest aerial + DJ. We have to take into account that we're losing Zelda's precious second jump which is precious IMO. It's precious because it limits our options and it also limits the things we can do while we recovering. Depending on the pressure the opponent puts on while where off stage the DJ could be vital for Zelda. Then the other form of momentum canceling is the reversed Nayru's love. It's risky but it can save Zelda's DJ. Zelda's DJ is important because in my opinion her Up B leaves you the must vulnerable while recovering you never want to be in a situation where you have to use the Up B to recover. Now that's not to say that there isn't times where you can Up B to try to avoid the pressure they're putting on you and the character they are using.
How do you deal overcome Zelda's weakness and recover safely back to the stage?
Recovering with Zelda's up B can be a pain. Although it pretty good range wise the cool down on the back end of the recovery can be very problematic. It can cause you to be punished and quite possibility death. In order to reduce this we have to first be extremely good at momentum canceling. The best way to momentum cancel is to FF your fastest aerial then DJ. But because of Zelda's recovery issues this isn't the best of options. Some alternative to this is reverse nayru's love or just continuous Bairs. Once you've survived a possible kill shot from your opponent the next challenge is making it back to the stage safely. If you were able to keep your double jump then a mixture of her double jump air dodging and air speed. Zelda also has pretty fast aerials in Bair and nair although a bit more risky you can attempt to launch an attemp in hopes to thwart their edge guard attempts. This is risky because more than likely they will just beat out your attack. So its important to know how fast your opponents move are if zelda's options are faster then go for it. This brings me to my very last point about recovering with Zelda it is an uphill battle one in which you can win. You first must pay attention. Not only to what you're opponent is doing but to where you are an at. Try to see if your opponent has any patterns while trying to edgeguard you does he wait for your air dodge? Is he grabbing to edge hog you. Did he RAR before he jumped off the stage. Can you get away with Up B sooner than what he's expecting. You must recover mix it up and don't always DJ then up B to recover don't always recover low with your up B. You can also recover high and snap to the ledge. Practice it, it's very important. The more options you have the more your opponent has to cover.
Conclusion
Welp that’s my bias guide to Zelda I just started writing stuff down and couldn’t stop. I’ll apologize for the poor grammar and stuff. I feel as though Zelda is a very hard character to play. Because most of her good tools has some sort of drawback to them. You also have to be able to quickly adjust to your opponent and be extremely precise while recovering, spacing and be able to read your opponent extremely well. Even though you can do all of those things you'll eventually trip and eat a tippered fsmash and die *shrugs* Anyways that about does it for this guide. Maybe I'll touch on some more stuff IDK hopefully this helps someone. So for the lack of pretty pictures and frame data but I didn't want to repost the fairy fountain thread and call it a guide.
