Can't beat Link! :-(

[ChivalRuse]

Something's been p***ing me off so much this week. I've been playing a lot on Kaillera over Spring break and I can't for my life beat Link with Samus.

Note: Samus is my main character (I also play Fox, Mario and Falcon sometimes).

I can't find a freaking way around Link's projectiles. I space bairs a ton, but the projectiles eat through me. Whenever I try to dair, Links always dodge it with that broken roll (compared with Samus's .... ) or they just upsmash/utilt and then up-b kill me. It's sooooo gay.

Help plz!!!!

 

[Skrlx]

Something's been p***ing me off so much this week. I've been playing a lot on Kaillera over Spring break and I can't for my life beat Link with Samus.

Note: Samus is my main character (I also play Fox, Mario and Falcon sometimes).

I can't find a freaking way around Link's projectiles. I space bairs a ton, but the projectiles eat through me. Whenever I try to dair, Links always dodge it with that broken roll (compared with Samus's .... ) or they just upsmash/utilt and then up-b kill me. It's sooooo gay.

Help plz!!!!

you CAN defeat link but it depends on the player controlling Link

 

[Lawrencelot]

If they roll a lot, make sure you cover as many spaces Link can go to as possible with shorthop dair. Find out which direction they roll, and use Samus's floatiness to move through the air horizontally into a position in which your dair will hit. Just jump over the projectiles I think, or use any aerial against boomerang

 

[Blue Yoshi]

So the **** button's the pause button? Man that would **** people lol

back to the thread, Link's weakness is that once he's far enough off the stage, he's dead. His entire recovery is probably worse than Pikachu's recovery without up-B. So basically try to get him off the stage, grab the ledge, and lol as you watch a helpless link try to recover. As for getting Link off the stage, you know Samus better than I do.

Looking at your post, I'm guessing you do the same thing over and over again (Dair when above Link and spaced Bairs). If you are predictable, then there's no way you'll win against a good player. Maybe instead of a Dair when above Link, you could do a Down-B? Space it so you can follow up with a Dair. Link has to imput the commands early since his moves are laggy, so if you do that right, he won't react on time to dodge it, and instead will take the Down-B, followed by Samus combos.

In terms of Link's projectiles, many characters can attack the boomerang, causing no damage. I'm pretty sure samus has some attacks like that. Take Jiggs (my main) for example, all her aerials have no range, but all can stop the boomerang... depending on where it comes from (Uair won't stop a boomerang from the bottom lol).

If you never approach a Link, he can projectile spam you all day, so eventually, you have to go in. Also remember that you have a projectile as well (charge shot). Though it may be easy to dodge, when used right, it can be very useful.

Oh and never roll as Samus.

One thing that will help you out for now is that if something doesn't work the first three times, it won't work the next 100 times, so try to figure something out (made in response to you dairing into Link's Usmash or Utilt).

That's all I can think of for now. I don't play Samus enough to give you game-breaking advice, but I think what I said is all right.

 

[Zen Yore]

down b
is the key
to defeat
linky (???)

 

[Blue Yoshi]

down b
is the key
to defeat
linky (???)

how's this?

down b
is the key
to eat
link meat

does that work?

 

[MattNF]

use bair to **** link's boomerang

 

[Wenbobular]

Sup Joe
We should play sometime I guess
If your mechanics are still slipping, work on those first
Otherwise, I guess I'll play you sometime
~_~

 

[Dylan_Tnga]

What you need to do is pick captain falcon. Then when link gets hit once he dies

I don't know samus well so I don't have much advice aside from be more confusing, samus profits from her weird moveset and aerials with decent mind-game potential. Confuse link, watch him, counter him. When you break through link's projectiles and smack his elf-ears in he's toast.

 

[Peek~]

Play offensively

Spacing is for butts. Especially in this matchup

 

[Dylan_Tnga]

Play offensively

Spacing is for butts. Especially in this matchup

True say, link cant bomb-erang you if you're all up in his face. Same thing applies to falcon vs link, you cant let link start a wall of projectiles leading into pressure/combos. If the link is good once he starts comboing you, you're pretty dead.

 

[SuPeRbOoM]

gotta play offensive and shield pressure it up

 

[LegendOfZelda]

All of the above work...

...or just main a different character

Falcon:
Grab->****->Next stock XD

 

[Wenbobular]

I think Fair eats projectiles

 

[NixxxoN]

I think you have to out-mindgame link. The charged b blast is crucial. Use down+b bombs to defend. Use blasts to attack followed with a dair or nair or a grab.
Generally, Samus is not bad against Link imo.

 

[Dylan_Tnga]

haha grab to ****, that's a great falcon combo, never goes wrong.

Random side note : **** is banned on this website but **** isn't? **** ****.

So fukkin is worse than ****?

 

[Superstar]

Banning the word **** on a videogame website would be a pretty bad idea.

wh*re is censored, though, so meh.

 

[Daedatheus]

What people have said is good.
You have to AGGRESSIVELY PRESSURE a Link. Remember that while he's good at keeping his distance, once Link is off the stage, he's pretty ****ed. Especially when Samus can just down+b at the edge and kill any of Link's up+b attempts, then Samus can follow up with a grab when Link pops up from the bomb (samus's grab can grab pretty low on the edge) or do a dair spike if needed.

Remember a fully-charged Samus B blast goes through almost anything, whereas uncharged ones will clank with stuff. Use that to your advantage. Don't always blindly try to hit Link with it, sometimes use it as a way to force Link into certain areas and then attack the most likely area that he can go. If Link shields it and doesn't fall off an edge, he'll have huge shieldstun. If you're close enough you can get a free grab (very useful at edge vs. Link) or otherwise you can also start pressuring that shield, and Link doesn't have a lot of options in that situation.

 

[Dylan_Tnga]

Wow, I didn't ever think of that matchup like that ^^ Good ideas.

 

[Dylan_Tnga]

lol

Whoops double post

 

[LegendOfZelda]

**** can't be banned, otherwise, they would have to ban Falcon, but that's not gonna happen. =]

Yeah, like Daedatheus said, Link is boned off stage, so throw him off then gimp him.

 

[ChivalRuse]

What people have said is good.
You have to AGGRESSIVELY PRESSURE a Link. Remember that while he's good at keeping his distance, once Link is off the stage, he's pretty ****ed. Especially when Samus can just down+b at the edge and kill any of Link's up+b attempts, then Samus can follow up with a grab when Link pops up from the bomb (samus's grab can grab pretty low on the edge) or do a dair spike if needed.

Remember a fully-charged Samus B blast goes through almost anything, whereas uncharged ones will clank with stuff. Use that to your advantage. Don't always blindly try to hit Link with it, sometimes use it as a way to force Link into certain areas and then attack the most likely area that he can go. If Link shields it and doesn't fall off an edge, he'll have huge shieldstun. If your close enough you can get a free grab (very useful at edge vs. Link) or otherwise you can also start pressuring that shield, and Link doesn't have a lot of options in that situation.

Edgeguarding with bombs? That's definitely new to me. I'll try it out.

Yea, and pretty much everyone said just to pressure Link. My crisis here is that I know I can't be direct about it, because if I just dash, jump and dair Link will upsmash or uair me.

If I mix it up with bombs and double jumps I usually eat a boomerang, because most Links are good at covering most of their opponents' options.

Sometimes I'll use an uncharged neutral b to clear out the horizontal and pressure Link from a medium distance. I can never really get him to approach me, however. That would put him in a much much worse position.

I find that getting Link into the air is good, but it has drawbacks.

1. He somehow always lands that invincible dair on me. I don't know why. If he misses, he just rolls away and resets the position.
2. If he has a bomb in hand, I have to be more careful than I want to be.

Fair has become my most reliable aerial in this matchup because of its range, and it has good setups.

I think I just need to mix it up with bombs, charged shots, and aerials more, and be smart in my approaches. It'll take practice though

 

[NixxxoN]

I think the best way to edgeguard link is going off the stage and hitting him with a sex kick before he does the up+b.... can be done with almost every char

 

[Skrlx]

Pick kirby

and Utilt

/endthread

 

[Blue Yoshi]

People should not have to change their mains just because they have difficulty in a specific matchup... Though having secondaries is very useful.

 

[Dr_Strangelove]

Pick kirby

and Utilt

/endthread

Yes, that is a good strategy against link, but don't you think it's too easy to pull off?
I like attempting things that are difficult to do.
Like playing a good ness player on dreamland as link. xD

The best way around the boomerangs in my opinion is to d-air them, you just have to avoid or shield against the bombs.
This is a matchup, as many people in this thread have already said, in which samus really needs to be attacking if the samus player wants to win.
The outcome is going to be decided on how good you are at reading your opponent, and how good your mindgames are.
OBVIOUSLY you won't be doing any combos with samus, so that's not really a viable strategy. xD

You could potentially perform a few pseudo-combos with samus's d-air, which is actually a REALLY useful attack.

I hope I'm being at least a tiny bit helpful here.

 

[Lawrencelot]

Also another small tip: some players become scared when you charged your shot as samus. They'll play very differently in order to not get shot. If that happens, don't shoot your charged shot if you have low percent, unless you're absolutely sure it will hit him or his shield. If you have low percent, you can keep your shot in order to pressure him psychologically, but don't forget to shoot it before you die yourself.

 

[Blue Yoshi]

If, after everything we told you, you still have problems against Link, remember the old saying:

If you can't beat them, join them.

 

[Daedatheus]

If you can't beat them, join them.

Play REALLY good players, then go back and play those Links again.
It will be easier.

 

[Blue Yoshi]

Also, after a bunch of matches (5-10 or more), ask them what you are doing wrong. Maybe you're always walking into Link's up-air. They know Link's weaknesses better than you, so ask them what you should do instead. Also give them advice on Samus at the same time. That way, you both improved right there.

If you're against Isai's Link, don't give him advice, since there is a 99.9% chance he already knows what you are saying. He knows a much better way that us mortals can't comprehend.

 

[Daedatheus]

Also, after a bunch of matches (5-10 or more), ask them what you are doing wrong. Maybe you're always walking into Link's up-air.

Yeah that's not a bad idea, we as players tend to pick up on people's and our own bad habits at varying speeds if they are being succesfully exploited, so asking if they've noticed a pattern can work if you aren't able to notice the pattern yourself.

 

[JKHDaBomb]

i'd like to play you and help you out, but i gave up smash for lent

get back with me in a few weeks

 

[Cryptic C62]

In terms of dealing with the boomerangs, I'd say dodging is sometimes more useful than priority cancelling or shielding.

Link can't boomerang until the last one either disappears or comes back to him. If you kick the boomerang or shield, it'll go right back to him. If you jump/duck, it'll move past you, taking much longer to get back to Link. The problem here is that it can come back for a second hit, but if you can get to the other side of Link (keeping him between you and the boomerang), you should be fine.

Also, work on abusing Link if misses with dair or uair. Even if he cancels these, the aerial animations last so long that if you can get around the sword, you're golden.

 

[Blue Yoshi]

You could approach after hitting the boomerang as well. If link isn't doing anything when the boomerang comes back to him, there is a long period of time where he can't do anything, as he's catching the boomerang and putting it back... somewhere... During this period of time, you can start any combo you want... if you're fast enough.

Dodging the boomerang is not always best. Yes, he can't use the boomerang anymore, but he can use bombs, and having bombs coming from one side, and a boomerang coming from the other (with changing trajectory depending on where Link is), getting hit by either can result in you getting caught in a combo. Also, while in mid-combo, the boomerang can act as a C-C-C-Combo Breaker.

There's advantages and disadvantages to letting the boomerang go and attacking it, so figure out which is best at which situations.

 

[Daedatheus]

If link isn't doing anything when the boomerang comes back to him, there is a long period of time where he can't do anything, as he's catching the boomerang and putting it back... somewhere... During this period of time, you can start any combo you want... if you're fast enough.

A good link player will never be catching the boomerang, if you're running or doing an aerial the catching animation won't happen. But yes, if it does, it can eff Link up more than one would think, especially if ever on recovery.

Dodging the boomerang is not always best. Yes, he can't use the boomerang anymore, but he can use bombs, and having bombs coming from one side, and a boomerang coming from the other

This totally depends on whether or not Link has a bomb ready yet, though. If Link starts pulling out a bomb AS you're getting up in his face, he's dead. Too laggy.

If he DOES pull out a bomb but you still hit him, be wary that it will eventually explode. Don't let it be a combo breaker, make it part of your combo!

 

[Blue Yoshi]

You don't know how many times I caught a boomerang while recovering... making me suicide since I could not use up-B.

 

[Skrlx]

I'm just waiting till you guys start discussing about the tier list yet again in another persons thread

LOL

 

[Blue Yoshi]

How do tiers have anything to do with this thread? It's a simple "How can my Samus defeat a good Link" question, with nothing to do with tiers.

We are basically doing a full matchup discussion of Link vs Samus, in an attempt to help a Samus player become better at the matchup.

 

[Skrlx]

How do tiers have anything to do with this thread? It's a simple "How can my Samus defeat a good Link" question, with nothing to do with tiers.

We are basically doing a full matchup discussion of Link vs Samus, in an attempt to help a Samus player become better at the matchup.

there's a big chunk of swf SSB64 history where everybody's thread would end up being discussions about tiers

 

[Blue Yoshi]

lol I hope we have left those "Dark Ages"