How do I beat projectile spamming Young Link?

[Bluelight413]

Despite being a lot younger than me, my brother is killer at Smash Bros., especially when he uses his main: Young Link!

He loves spamming projectiles on omega stages. He alternates between his arrows, boomerang and bombs so that there is no point at which there isn't a projectile in front of me. I'm a Pokemon Trainer main, and none of my pokemon can seem to counter him. But he is insanely patient, and at a higher skill level than me, so he can counter anything I do!

I've tried Squirtle and Charizard's side B's, but his arrows stop both. I've tried approaching from the air, and if his diagonal boomerang doesn't get me, he shields or dodge rolls and then locks me into a combo. My choices appear to be take constant damage from a distance, or jump in and give him free combos.

How can I counter a Young Link champ like this guy?

 

[LIL ELF]

Find an opening and get in his face. Dont let him zone you out. Always get in his face.

 

[ZephyrZ]

Squirtle is your best option here, as his small body and nimble movement make it easier for him to bob and weave through projectile spam. His stubby attack range makes it hard for Squirt to deal with YLinks sword, but on the other hand, YLink's inferior frame data can cause him to have some issues shaking Squirtle off. Getting past zoners with Squirtle takes skill and practice, but he's good at it if you know how to properly use him.

It's a tough matchup but it should be doable with the right level of patience. Don't rush in and be evasive until you find a chance to get in with Squirtle's fair or dash attack. And by evasive I don't mean roll a lot - Squirtle is great at jumping over and ducking under projectiles.

Getting a kill is the hardest part of this matchup imo since both Ivysaur and Charizard have issues approaching, as Ivy is slow and Zard is a big target. Maybe quickly switch to Ivysaur and Charizard once you get him offstage and go for an edgegaurd, but you really don't want to overuse Charizard in this match up unless you're really confident in him so be sure to switch back to Squirtle afterwards. That said Flare Blitz can be a clutch kill option, you just have to time it right so that he isn't hit before the super armor kicks.

 

[Superyoshiom]

I generally like taking on Young Link with Ivysaur. My strategy is jumping over projectiles and then hitting them with a fair. At that point, I'm generally in advantage and use razor leaf before they can pull out anything else and then follow up with a grab or an attack. It's a tough matchup when I can't get the setup though.

 

[Bluelight413]

Thanks you guys, I feel like I'm already making grounds on projectile avoiding.
Once I've gotten through the projectiles, how do I deal with Young Link's general moves, like his combos and sword game?

 

[Superyoshiom]

Thanks you guys, I feel like I'm already making grounds on projectile avoiding.
Once I've gotten through the projectiles, how do I deal with Young Link's general moves, like his combos and sword game?

I could be mistaken, but I think Squirtle has frame advantage over Young Link, but due to the range of his sword, I just use Ivysaur to deal with him close up. The whips outrange his sword I'm pretty sure, fairs are a good way to space him out.

 

[ZephyrZ]

I could be mistaken, but I think Squirtle has frame advantage over Young Link, but due to the range of his sword, I just use Ivysaur to deal with him close up. The whips outrange his sword I'm pretty sure, fairs are a good way to space him out.

Squirtle has frame advantage over the majority of the cast, Young Link included. He has a rough time with Young Link's sword but once he gets in YLink has a tough time shaking him off.

Ivysaur can beat Young Link at a midrange but he has to deal with getting past his projectiles first, which Squirtle is better at. Ivy might also fair better against really aggressive YLink players for this reason but I wouldn't know since most I've played were pretty campy overall. I think the best way to do it is to follow the basic Pkmn Trainer rule of thumb and use Squirt and low percents and Switch to Ivysaur at higher percents to avoid being killed early. Don't bother with Charizard though unless you need to recover, already have the advantage state and watcg to punish a landing, or are confident or desperate enough to go for a Flare Blitz read.

 

[Xquirtle]

By playing him on omega, you're letting him play his game on a stage that is abusively in his favor. I'd look up tournament standard rules and stages and create yourself a ruleset that only chooses those stages. It's a perfectly reasonable argument that you should be practicing on the tournament rotation! It does have ONE omega, which is intentional since it is not considered to be a universally balanced stage like battlefield.

After convincing him to stop playing an abusive stage over and over, you platform camp his projectiles until he cries or starts to approach, closing the gap for you. The advantage to the paltforms is that you are not forced to shield jump or dodge his corner spammed projectiles. Its kinda like saying no to his game plan and forcing him to at least move. You can jump across the pltforms and try to bait out something greedy like an up smash, then drop in for the punish etc.

Anyway, squirtle is probably your best bet against young link, but only if you're well practiced. Squirtle is hard to pull off without a good bit of training mode combo practicing. If you aren't super comfortable on squirtle, then you can try reverse spamming him with ivy saur side b. keep in mind that if you hit both buttons of side B at once like a smash attack, itll go wayyy further. If he starts approaching and jumping in response to your spam, look to read his jump with a fair and go back to camping

 

[ZephyrZ]

After convincing him to stop playing an abusive stage over and over, you platform camp his projectiles until he cries or starts to approach, closing the gap for you. The advantage to the paltforms is that you are not forced to shield jump or dodge his corner spammed projectiles. Its kinda like saying no to his game plan and forcing him to at least move. You can jump across the pltforms and try to bait out something greedy like an up smash, then drop in for the punish etc.

Even on a stage like Battlefield or Pokemon Stadium, you still give YLink the advantage if you try to camp him. He can still jump and throw projectiles at you, or even angle his boomerang up. You still have to approach in that matchup no matter what stage.

 

[Xquirtle]

Even on a stage like Battlefield or Pokemon Stadium, you still give YLink the advantage if you try to camp him. He can still jump and throw projectiles at you, or even angle his boomerang up. You still have to approach in that matchup no matter what stage.

Are you trying to say that you would rather play against a link on an omega versus a platform stage??? The point is to camp a strategy that makes his game plan more complicated, not to just stand there and assume that he has zero tools to hit somebody on a platform. Forcing them to jump is forcing them to spend multiple resources that they otherwise are not using while corning camping an omega. The are using at least one full hop jump, giving up roll and shield defensive options, and committing to aerial movement, just to throw a projectile that is going to be relatively predictable. Likewise, the platforms give you movement options that don't force you to spend all of your resources to approach the camper in a predictable manner.

Making their camp more complicated is clearly valuable. It gives you more options to get in and start the punish game that will break it down further.

 

[ZephyrZ]

Are you trying to say that you would rather play against a link on an omega versus a platform stage??? The point is to camp a strategy that makes his game plan more complicated, not to just stand there and assume that he has zero tools to hit somebody on a platform. Forcing them to jump is forcing them to spend multiple resources that they otherwise are not using while corning camping an omega. The are using at least one full hop jump, giving up roll and shield defensive options, and committing to aerial movement, just to throw a projectile that is going to be relatively predictable. Likewise, the platforms give you movement options that don't force you to spend all of your resources to approach the camper in a predictable manner.

Making their camp more complicated is clearly valuable. It gives you more options to get in and start the punish game that will break it down further.

No that's not what I was saying at all. Platforms do make it easier to play around YLink's projectiles.

I was just saying YLink still doesn't have to approach if he doesn't want to. That's true no matter what stage. You made it sound like platform camping would force him to approach when it wouldn't.

 

[Xquirtle]

No that's not what I was saying at all. Platforms do make it easier to play around YLink's projectiles.

I was just saying YLink still doesn't have to approach if he doesn't want to. That's true no matter what stage. You made it sound like platform camping would force him to approach when it wouldn't.

We don't really know his skill level or how he will respond to platform use. He may start approaching more in their little 1v1 meta due to a lack of experience at playing the platform game and getting frustrated. But yes, it certainly won't force an expert link to approach. You aren't actually generating hitbox pressure on them while jumping around on platforms, so they can definitely just stand at the edge and continue to play defensively.