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Do you think Zelda is OP?

Balsoid

Smash Rookie
Joined
Mar 20, 2015
Messages
5
Especially with the 3.6 update.

Every time I beat my cousin, he whine and says that her back throw and Bair is ridiculously OP.

Now, I never feel satisfied when I win because I feel like I'm using an over powered character.
 

Jamble

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Oct 5, 2015
Messages
135
To me, it seems like her attacks require a little too much precision and good spacing for her to be considered OP, especially since she's a big, somewhat slow, not very heavy character who needs to get fairly close in order to use her attacks effectively. Her attacks are brutal, and she has a good recovery, but she has a lot of drawbacks in exchange. It sounds like you're just getting better with Zelda and your cousin is being kind of a sore loser.
 

4tlas

Smash Lord
Joined
Sep 30, 2014
Messages
1,298
Zelda has always been quite capable against opponents who are not at the high levels of play. If you look at old Brawl and Melee tier lists, you will see that Zelda was considered strong while the games were young and people had yet to learn the multitude of ways to ignore her. Project M has the best balanced Zelda to date, and almost everyone agrees that she is at best mid-tier.

Ultimately, in a game all about position (even kills are based off of position, not hp), Zelda is slow and has precise hitboxes, which are inherently some of the worst traits you can have. She is not OP. You should feel proud that you manage to beat him with Zelda.
 

ECHOnce

Smash Lord
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Messages
1,191
Location
Bellevue, WA
If you want a TL;DR explanation to give your cousin on why she's not that great, tell him to think of it like this. She's a glass cannon. Good attacks like LK if you sweetspot (which have been severely nerfed over the last few updates), but her movement and other aspects of play are super punishable - plenty of time for opponents to react, and high-ish commitment in many scenarios. Some aspects of her playstyle may seem unintuitive, but so do a good 80% of the non-Melee top tiers, if you've never seen a good player using them before. Specifically on Bair and B-throw though...no. They're not OP. There are stronger kill throws out there, and there are other moves like knee of justice that have more guaranteed kill setups on other characters.

Zelda stuff just happens a bit more slowly than with other characters, so there's more emphasis on player errors and people don't like accepting that they made a mistake, or they feel like their quicker play (more bad things in a short period) is more skillful and should justify beating slower good play lol. I say this not as a Zelda main dealing with salty opponents, but as someone who understands Zelda as a character, and can't seem to beat another local Zelda in the ditto or with my secondaries at all, even though I beat players that beat him lol. I'm salty too, but at least ik I'm just getting outplayed, even if interactions feel stupid like the GW mu
 

Kaeldiar

Smash Ace
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
563
Location
MDVAiridian City
Take a look at Zelda's original tier list placement in Melee, then look at her placement now (scroll down on the page). Zelda's design is very strong at low levels of play. As you play more and get faster, it is easy to get around her weapons even with only a mid-level skill. As proof, notice that only once has a Zelda player (Zhime) finished in the top 8 at a national (Shots Fired)
 

WhiteCrow

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jan 16, 2014
Messages
284
Location
Portland, OR
Kind of hard to be OP with a character this slow and precise. She obliterates scrubs harder than Exodia but struggles at the higher levels of play. I'm sure your cousin also thinks Ike's neutral b is broken, or Bowser's forward smash is unavoidable and dumb.

If she gets too frustrated with Zelda maybe try other characters? I don't like giving "get gud" advice but it's kind of applicable.
 

Mentor

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jul 23, 2015
Messages
55
Here's a way to get better/make things more interesting: Don't use b-throw or lightning kicks. You can still kill w/ f-smash, d-smash, up-smash (at high %s on certain stages w/ certain characters), u-air, and dair. Even nair, nayru's love, and up-b can edge guard if you set it up right. If you bair/fair, lose a stock as a punishment.
 
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