I'll probably only contribute to this thread this once, but I just want to say that Zelda is incredibly flawed in this game. It's kinda laughable sometimes to have people think that Zelda is a lot better compared to her Brawl variant, where in reality, there are lots of places where she was actually downgraded from Brawl. However, let's get realistic I don't think something extremely game-changing like no freefall Din's or storable Phantom will be something Sakurai will consider IF we get this theoretical patch. Sure, it would make Zelda's game a lot better, and it be pretty cool, but it's NOT a priority.
Some things I would personally like to see that are relatively minor and should be easy to patch, but can really make Zelda a bit more of a contender in the lower tiers. She really needs tools that complement her defensive game, and early kill potential. But her moves in this game don't seem to complement this playstyle at the very slightest.
MUST NEEDED CHANGES
F-tilt: There's actually a dead zone in this move when it's used at POINT BLANK against opponents. It's REALLY annoying when you have an opponent run up to you, and your F-tilt COMPLETELY whiffs and you get caught. Don't know why this exists, but you should get rewarded properly for using a move that's really only used for spacing. If one of the few moves you can use for spacing actually whiffs randomly, that's real stupid, honestly. It should also be Brawl's speed IMO as well.
F-Smash: Oh boy, where to start here. F-smash is decent.... until you have the opponent randomly pop out for NO APPARENT reason. If you don't get what I mean, try going to Classic mode and use Zelda's Fsmash on Master Core. Or better yet the bomb in Target Smash. If those drops happen on INANIMATE objects, imagine what it's like against ACTUAL humans. This pop-out is incredibly unnecessary and makes you very vulnerable on the contrary. This is one of her only defensive options, and if you're scared to use it because of this, you've lost one more option in your game. FIX.
SOME NICE CHANGES
Smash Attacks: Zelda had AMAZING smash attacks in Brawl. Probably one of the best 3-set combo in the game. Now? I say it's one of the worst. There's also a lot of cooldown now in all of her smash attacks compared to Brawl. D-smash especially, as it also got a range nerf and increased startup. I don't expect them to be like Brawl smashes, but I wish there can be even a little bit less cooldown in her smashes, and startup similar to her previous Smash variants. She needs space, but she can't keep her space if she's just slow as heck. I'd love to have Usmash from Brawl back, but alas, not sure if we'll get that.
Speed: Why is she so slow? I'd love to have her even a TAD bit faster, but preferably at Peach's speed. It's almost impossible to have her punish presumably laggy moves just because her run speed AND her grab are slow as f***. Her grab I think is one frame slower than that of Brawl, so I'd love to have that frame back. And give back her pivot grab range that was lost in this patch. We needed that. ; w ;
MAY NOT HAPPEN BUT WORTH A SHOT CHANGES
Lightning Kicks: I mean, they're okay in this game, but there's so much cooldown after the attack that a whiff Lightning Kick can actually make you PUNISHABLE. For a move that I think is now HARDER to get the sweetspot AND doesn't kill as well, she can't shorthop into LK because she kinda flops into extreme ending lag after. I don't see this being changed unfortunately, but at the very least, either give less ending lag, OR at least be able to do one LK in a shorthop without lag. Not sure if we can have our Brawl and Melee LKs back.
Usmash: Megaman stole our Usmash, and we are left with one of the worst moves in the game. I'm really not sure how we can make this better other than getting our Brawl Usmash back, but again, this will most likely NOT happen. Pls Sakurai.
Din's Fire and Phantom Slash: I really don't know what to say for these moves, because they are really bad, but there's a threshold in how we can improve them without making them EXTREMELY game-changing. IMO, this probably will stay as it is, but I'd love to have Brawl's Din's Fire back. THIS IS A LONGSHOT THOUGH.
OTHER SMALL BUT WOULD BE COOL CHANGES
- Fix that weird Nayru's Love thing when if you get hit during the move animation, the crystal stays with her hurtbox for a few seconds
- Maybe no ending lag Nair like in Brawl?
- Uair killing just a taaaaaad earlier? Or a slightly bigger hitbox?
- Get Brawl's dash attack
Want to be reasonable, because I really don't think Sakurai will change Zelda much IF a patch should come. But Zelda is just such a flawed character, she'll need a complete moveset overhaul if she really wants to contend. Alas, at least make her a bit more useable, Sakurai. Zelda mains are MISSING her Brawl variant, and that's saying something. ; w ;
Zelda mains, feel free to add stuff that I've missed. BUT KEEP IT REASONABLE. Knowing Sakurai, nothing uber game-changing will be added to our character, but there might be some moves that are real garbage that I forgot to address.