PREFACE
Hey guys, I was just looking and saw how almost every other character had a guide of some sort, and the Link forums do not. Now, I am by no means an expert/pro at Brawl- I just <3 Link muchly. That being said, I am going to be working on this thread over the next few days to try and consolidate the various Link (and Brawl) information scattered throughout the boards. That being said, I want to add a disclaimer that it won't include combos, hit % data, frame data, etc. Just a list of nifty, useful (and some not) tactics/techniques/etc. to do with Link.
Since this information is so scattered, I'd like to open the forum for suggestions and such of things that should be included. Also, it will be a perpetual work in progress, and I'll add things as I come across them, and feel free to contribute things as well- and I'll add them if needed and such.
CONTENTS
I-General Brawl Techniques Applicable To Link:
This section details some general brawl techniques and maneuvers that can benefit Link. That is to say, you won’t find anything about, say...gliding, here. Just broad topics that can be utilized (not specifically) by Link.
Auto Canceling: Essentially ‘allowing’ the animation of the aerial move to finish, resulting in no lag. For Link purposes, his N-air and B-Air can be autocancelled
B-Sticking: Mapping the C-stick as your specials. Results in a ‘bounce’ backward when these moves are used. To use a neutral special, you tilt the C-stick diagonally. Neutral specials that can be charged can continue to be charged by moving your finger over to the B button and holding it down.
B-Sticking (Without Re-Mapping): Pretty self explanatory in its definition. For a guide on how, visit http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=154740
Controller Mapping: Simply changing the layout of buttons on your controller. As a reference, I have tap jump off, and have remapped my L button (I very rarely use it) to jump.
Dashing Shield: Simply shielding during a dash, results in a slide of varying distances depending on characters where you are shielded.
Dashing Shield Grab: Grabbing out of the aforementioned Dashing Shield.
Diminishing Returns: Simply put, the more you use an attack, the less damage it deals. I don't have the stuff handy, but you can easily find a chart in the "Brawl Tactics" Forum in the "Compendium Of AT's" thread.
Footstool Jump: Utilizing a second jump on top of an opponent, causing you to jump off their heads.
Hyphen Smashing: Hitting up on the C-stick in mid-dash to do an instant U-smash
Instant Dash Attack: Tap the control stick to dash, and shortly thereafter (almost simultaneously) tap C-stick down to do a dash attack, without the dash.
Reverse Aerial Rush: Because of the new physics; you can run, turn around, jump and do a B-air while moving in your original direction. Essentially, it is transferring the momentum from the ‘slide’ of turning around, into your jump. Also known by its acronym RAR
Slide Canceling: Done by dashing, and turning in the opposite direction. As soon as the slide animation starts, tilt the control stick to the original direction and perform a smash/tilt
Stutter Step: Tapping the opposite way the character is facing, and then C-sticking back to the original direction increases the distance of the F-smash. Normally, Link takes 7 F-smashes (with the second slash included) to cross Battlefield. With this, it takes 6 and one half (meaning 6 ‘double slash’ smashes and one ‘single slash’ smash)
Stutter Step (Double): Essentially it is a two move dash dance into a C-sticked F-smash. Tap the direction you want to go, then the opposite direction, and then C-stick in the original direction. It increases your F-smash distance farther than stutter stepping. This decreases the number of F-smashes to cross Battlefield from 7 (no stutter stepping), to 6.5 (stutter stepping), to 6 (2x stutter stepping)
II-Link Specific:
Bow/Arrow Canceling: Shooting an arrow when you are close to the ground which eliminates the ‘fitting to the string’ animation of the bow/arrow.
Full Jump Double Arrow: You can pull off two regular (uncharged) arrows from a full hop by shooting one as soon as you jump (the arrow should be released by the time you reach the height of your first jump) and then executing an arrow cancel.
Footstool Jump Spike: Using the footstool jump to set up for a D-air
Kara Cancelling: Not exactly a Link specific technique, but few enough characters can use it that it stops it from being a 'general' technique. That being said, its almost identical to Snake's mortar sliding in that it causes the character (in our case, Link) to slide a LOT farther than a hyphen smash w/ his U-smash.
With Tap Jump set to *ON*: Dash->C-Stick Down->Up on Control Stick ->Z (Pretty tight timing)
With Tap Jump set to *OFF*: Hold a diagnal up position on the joystick to Dash-> C-stick down-> Z (again, pretty tight timing)
If you hit Z too fast, you wind up grabbing or dash attacking.
Link's Shield: Link's shield stops pretty much *any* projectile that hits it, including Samus' charge shot. He can only bit hit in the head and feet when standing; and only in the head when crouching.
Out Of Shield Up+B: Like in Melee, Link can utilize his UP+B out of his shield.
SH Arrow Cancel: Utilizing an arrow cancel in short hop form
Tether Camping/Tether Edgeguard: Using the clawsot to edgehog; done by grabbing the edge normally, and waiting for the right time to hit down/away and use the hookshot to grab the ledge. The tendency of other 'tether recovery characters' (Olimar, Ivysaur,etc) is to wait until they are down and diagnal to use their tether in an attempt to knock you off the edge and grab it themselves. By switching from a 'normal hold' to a 'tether hold', Link is able to still hog the edge but puts himself out of harm's way of the opponent's tether.
Wind Walling: Throwing the boomerang the opposite direction, and jumping back to intentionally miss the catch which causes the boomerang to pass you and push (instead of pull) the opponent. Can alter the trajectory by bouncing the boomerang at angles off of various parts of the stage (practice to get the angles down) which enables the 'wind wall' to block the corresponding angles.
Zair: Using the hookshot (z) as an aerial attack. It has virtually no lag.
ZABomb: Due to the ease with which items can be caught, it is now possible for Link to z-drop an item and perform *ANY* aerial, catching the bomb as he does so.
III-Edit History:
3/19 Added Stuff
3/21 Enlarged Text, Alphabetized List (I Think), Added Stuff
3/25 Added Kara Cancelling
-=- As always, in progress -=-
((IN PROGRESS))
Hey guys, I was just looking and saw how almost every other character had a guide of some sort, and the Link forums do not. Now, I am by no means an expert/pro at Brawl- I just <3 Link muchly. That being said, I am going to be working on this thread over the next few days to try and consolidate the various Link (and Brawl) information scattered throughout the boards. That being said, I want to add a disclaimer that it won't include combos, hit % data, frame data, etc. Just a list of nifty, useful (and some not) tactics/techniques/etc. to do with Link.
Since this information is so scattered, I'd like to open the forum for suggestions and such of things that should be included. Also, it will be a perpetual work in progress, and I'll add things as I come across them, and feel free to contribute things as well- and I'll add them if needed and such.
CONTENTS
I-General Brawl Techniques Applicable To Link:
This section details some general brawl techniques and maneuvers that can benefit Link. That is to say, you won’t find anything about, say...gliding, here. Just broad topics that can be utilized (not specifically) by Link.
Auto Canceling: Essentially ‘allowing’ the animation of the aerial move to finish, resulting in no lag. For Link purposes, his N-air and B-Air can be autocancelled
B-Sticking: Mapping the C-stick as your specials. Results in a ‘bounce’ backward when these moves are used. To use a neutral special, you tilt the C-stick diagonally. Neutral specials that can be charged can continue to be charged by moving your finger over to the B button and holding it down.
B-Sticking (Without Re-Mapping): Pretty self explanatory in its definition. For a guide on how, visit http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=154740
Controller Mapping: Simply changing the layout of buttons on your controller. As a reference, I have tap jump off, and have remapped my L button (I very rarely use it) to jump.
Dashing Shield: Simply shielding during a dash, results in a slide of varying distances depending on characters where you are shielded.
Dashing Shield Grab: Grabbing out of the aforementioned Dashing Shield.
Diminishing Returns: Simply put, the more you use an attack, the less damage it deals. I don't have the stuff handy, but you can easily find a chart in the "Brawl Tactics" Forum in the "Compendium Of AT's" thread.
Footstool Jump: Utilizing a second jump on top of an opponent, causing you to jump off their heads.
Hyphen Smashing: Hitting up on the C-stick in mid-dash to do an instant U-smash
Instant Dash Attack: Tap the control stick to dash, and shortly thereafter (almost simultaneously) tap C-stick down to do a dash attack, without the dash.
Reverse Aerial Rush: Because of the new physics; you can run, turn around, jump and do a B-air while moving in your original direction. Essentially, it is transferring the momentum from the ‘slide’ of turning around, into your jump. Also known by its acronym RAR
Slide Canceling: Done by dashing, and turning in the opposite direction. As soon as the slide animation starts, tilt the control stick to the original direction and perform a smash/tilt
Stutter Step: Tapping the opposite way the character is facing, and then C-sticking back to the original direction increases the distance of the F-smash. Normally, Link takes 7 F-smashes (with the second slash included) to cross Battlefield. With this, it takes 6 and one half (meaning 6 ‘double slash’ smashes and one ‘single slash’ smash)
Stutter Step (Double): Essentially it is a two move dash dance into a C-sticked F-smash. Tap the direction you want to go, then the opposite direction, and then C-stick in the original direction. It increases your F-smash distance farther than stutter stepping. This decreases the number of F-smashes to cross Battlefield from 7 (no stutter stepping), to 6.5 (stutter stepping), to 6 (2x stutter stepping)
II-Link Specific:
Bow/Arrow Canceling: Shooting an arrow when you are close to the ground which eliminates the ‘fitting to the string’ animation of the bow/arrow.
Full Jump Double Arrow: You can pull off two regular (uncharged) arrows from a full hop by shooting one as soon as you jump (the arrow should be released by the time you reach the height of your first jump) and then executing an arrow cancel.
Footstool Jump Spike: Using the footstool jump to set up for a D-air
Kara Cancelling: Not exactly a Link specific technique, but few enough characters can use it that it stops it from being a 'general' technique. That being said, its almost identical to Snake's mortar sliding in that it causes the character (in our case, Link) to slide a LOT farther than a hyphen smash w/ his U-smash.
With Tap Jump set to *ON*: Dash->C-Stick Down->Up on Control Stick ->Z (Pretty tight timing)
With Tap Jump set to *OFF*: Hold a diagnal up position on the joystick to Dash-> C-stick down-> Z (again, pretty tight timing)
If you hit Z too fast, you wind up grabbing or dash attacking.
Link's Shield: Link's shield stops pretty much *any* projectile that hits it, including Samus' charge shot. He can only bit hit in the head and feet when standing; and only in the head when crouching.
Out Of Shield Up+B: Like in Melee, Link can utilize his UP+B out of his shield.
SH Arrow Cancel: Utilizing an arrow cancel in short hop form
Tether Camping/Tether Edgeguard: Using the clawsot to edgehog; done by grabbing the edge normally, and waiting for the right time to hit down/away and use the hookshot to grab the ledge. The tendency of other 'tether recovery characters' (Olimar, Ivysaur,etc) is to wait until they are down and diagnal to use their tether in an attempt to knock you off the edge and grab it themselves. By switching from a 'normal hold' to a 'tether hold', Link is able to still hog the edge but puts himself out of harm's way of the opponent's tether.
Wind Walling: Throwing the boomerang the opposite direction, and jumping back to intentionally miss the catch which causes the boomerang to pass you and push (instead of pull) the opponent. Can alter the trajectory by bouncing the boomerang at angles off of various parts of the stage (practice to get the angles down) which enables the 'wind wall' to block the corresponding angles.
Zair: Using the hookshot (z) as an aerial attack. It has virtually no lag.
ZABomb: Due to the ease with which items can be caught, it is now possible for Link to z-drop an item and perform *ANY* aerial, catching the bomb as he does so.
III-Edit History:
3/19 Added Stuff
3/21 Enlarged Text, Alphabetized List (I Think), Added Stuff
3/25 Added Kara Cancelling
-=- As always, in progress -=-
((IN PROGRESS))
