How is Link's performance in the elements of Brawl?

[DRaGZ]

Okay first off, please read this:

http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=199108

Second of all, the reason I am posting this here is because I don't have set-out summaries of Link's performance in the elements of Brawl. So, I was wondering if you guys could do it, considering how you guys are the authorities on your own character.

Use this thread to discuss it, and then please post your results in the "Element of Brawl" thread linked above, using this format:

ZONING

• On the ground
• In the air
• Off-stage

SPACING

• Extreme long distance
• Long distance
• Medium distance
• Short distance

KILLING

• Killing power
• Gimping potential

Thanks a bunch.

 

[Ray_Kalm]

You have good knowledge about Ganondorf, quite impressed.

ZONING

* On the ground

Links real game is on the ground. He could control the ground with his projectiles, if used correctly. His grab comes out fast and has good range, good for tech chasing. If you learn how to use all this to its max, Link deserves a Above average.

Above Average

* In the air

Not his real place, slow aerials with not such good knock backs, though his back air comes out very fast, it doesn't kill (not at early percentages). Links Neutral and D-Air are the only suitable aerials to use.

Below Average

* Off-stage

Link could barely go off stage due to the fact that his recovery is just terrible, but it's still possible to land a aerial and make it back to the stage.

Below Average


SPACING

* Extreme long distance

I'm presuming that you mean very large stages by "extreme". This is not really Links place to be..his arrows would probably be his only option which won't possibly reach the opponent, and needs quite some time to charge. Boomerang does have range, but it loses his, I'll call this, "damage hit".

Below Average

* Long distance

Closest to his best position to be on the stage, his best would be "mid-long range". Link has total control over almost every character here (ToonLink and Samus are able to control the stage at this range to). Best to use the Hero Bow and throw out bombs and the gale boomerang.

Above Average.

* Medium distance

Another excellent position to take control over the opponent. Z-Air to almost any other attack. His F-Smash has awesome range, and another swing that could come out anytime. It wouldn't be a good idea to use the Heroes bow here, only the quick draw option is capable of actually doing something here. Bomb setups.. are top tier here.

Above Average.


* Short distance

Not such a bad place for Link to be, even though he has only one to four options here. His jab, Up/Down Tilt and his grab. All those are easily punishable.

Average.

KILLING

* Killing power

Link has Mid to High killing power, good range on almost all his attacks and okay knock back with it. D-Air kills fast, has good piority, and laggy.

Average - Above Average.

* Gimping potential

I'd say average, because his neutral A and D-Air are his only options here. Hard to land, but worth it.

Average.

 

[LinkSpecialist]

* In the air

Not his real place, slow aerials with not such good knock backs, though his back air comes out very fast, it doesn't kill (not at early percentages). Links Neutral and D-Air are the only suitable aerials to use.

Below Average

Warning: Pointless wall of text below!​

All, but his U-air are good aerials to use. I'm no expert on what's what, but I'm sure Link's aerials are average, if not above.

His F-air comes out quick and is deadly if used correctly, and with it's disjointed hitboxes it's more than suitable for more than one situation. Coupled with almost no landing lag, it's very hard to punish. The fact that you can sweetspot the second slash by fastfalling after using it only means it's all the more better. There is almost nothing wrong with this aerial except for the fact that the lag while in the air is pretty bad, but with the fact that your mostly likely on the ground by the time it finishes, it wouldn't matter. The starting lag of the move is a tad on the slow side, but because this is a two-part slash it can be used earlier than needed.

While Link's b-air doesn't have killing potential, it doesn't have too. It's great for causing space between foes and is very good at set-ups. It also gimps as well as his n-air. Again, with nearly no landing lag, it's something that can be freely abused. On the other hand, this move has very little priority, but makes up for it in speed and flexible use. It's not his best aerial, but it has it uses.

His N-air is one of his best aerials, While it doesn't have much priority, it has enough to cancel Snake's missiles from his U-Smash if hit with the beginning of the n-air. It's great for set-ups, gimps, spacing, and even combos when done right. It can hit pretty well in front of Link as well as behind him with enough range from his knee. It's also Link's fastest aerial as well, making it very useful for many occasions. Again, with pretty much no landing lag, it's pretty hard to catch Link when he's helpless to defend himself. Sadly it doesn't kill easily at all unless you gimp with it.

Now on to the D-air! This move has tons of potential use behind it. Sadly, it has just as much weakness as it has strength. The most glaring weakness behind this move is the terrible aerial and landing lag it bares. The aerial lag wouldn't be as much of a gripe if the landing lag wasn't so bad. A miss from the d-air could mean death if used incorrectly which does tend to happen often. When it does hit however, the reward is grand. This is Link's deadliest aerial and should be feared by others from anyone who knows how to utilize it correctly. It's ironic that something so punishable is meant to punish others' mistakes. the d-air has much depth to it, you can ether fastfall the d-air so you have a higher chance of scoring a strong hit, or you can simply bounce off shields or enemy's and land with no lag at all. Of course these are just some examples of it's uses. It is something that should be used far in between though.

His U-air the most situational aerial Link has. It comes out quick, has tons of ranged prioriy and it's landing lag is nonexistent if full hopped. Sadly the range from Link's U-air is nowhere but straight up. Not only that, but it's killing potential lacking even if the initial strike hits. Even Toon Link's U-air has more strength than him.



Of course if I am wrong, I'll be more than glad if someone can prove me wrong. I suck at details anyway.

 

[Looticforgothispassword]

I use Uair, its all about following your opponent trajectory so they cant airdodge it, takes some thinking to make the timing for juggling be correct with it with it, but its fun when it works.

And I dont agree with you saying that link is good IN the air, he has some good aerials but all of them works best when shuffled(without the l) or for gimping, with exception for uair which is made for juggling IMO. This is IMO mostly because of links bad aerial mobility is to bad. but this is maybe what you meant

The uses:

nair= spacing, gimping, keep pressure and panic move
fair= comboing, situational killer
bair= craq walk combos, jab lock set ups and QDs (his AT set up aerial, lol)
uair= juggles
dair= killer, gimper, dont use it much if I dont think its gonna autocancel
zair= comboing, damageracker, spacing, panic move, approaching, retreating, spamming...

this is how I use my aerials

Link has many potential killers, fsmash, dair, fair, dsmash, ftilt, utilt, upB and usmash.
zair combos to fsmash, dsmash, utilt and upB.
You have DAC to kill out of a combo.
Bombslide fthrow is nice to set up KOs as well, follow up with utilt, fsmash, dsmash or jab
Bomb footstool anyone, its a must in my world, im gonna make it a reflex.
false jabcancel for KO setups.
the only problem is that there are no grab -> kill, really, Uthrow kills late, around 160-170% and dthrow combos bad to other attacks at higher percentages.
so to sum up Link has no real problem to get around the diminishing return of the attacks and to combo into kills. But how to aproach for kill? zair every time?


When it comes to gimping link has a lot of oportunities, zair edgeguard, dtilt spike(the sasook way with your back towards the ledge), Bombslide uthrows(which I think you dont want to agree with but anyway), galeguarding(very situational), arrows, nair, dair, i even sometimes use my jab to edgeguard, the problem is that link dont have any perfect edgeguard moves that is certain kills, and most of the options isnt fast enough, only run off nairs, jump off dairs and zair edgeguard is fast and good enough to be used frequently( I havent used dtilt spike long enough to tell what my opinion is on that one)

@linkspecialist: I like your wall of text, it was inspiring.

 

[LinkSpecialist]

...I dont agree with you saying that link is good IN the air, he has some good aerials but all of them works best when shuffled...

Agreed, His are aerials good, but more or less meant for the ground. Good catch my friend.

On a side-note the following moves causes opponents to trip.

Jab
F-tilt
F-Smash
Arrow
N-air
F-air (first slash)

But the chances of any of these moves are pretty much the same as you yourself tripping, but it's a fun fact to know.

 

[Anonano]

Here I go!

ZONING

*On the Ground
Link thrives here. He has minor utilt comboing, jab locks, jab cancel into a variety of moves, decent long range projectiles that can slow or direct an opponents approach, and a variety of kill moves at his disposal. Unfortunately, this works against him because his opponents tend to go far away enough from a few hits to force him to approach- and Link doesn't have great approach options.

Average

*In the Air
Link's air game is mainly zair for approaches and retreats and some decent knockback on all of his moves. He cannot chase his opponents or follow them around in the air, and oftentimes his opponents will be sent too far up or too far away for him to continue his assault.
Below Average

*Off the Stage
A Link can use the boomerang to aid his recovery efforts defensively, and if he is lucky a bomb will get him a little further than before, but Link is far too gimpable even while chasing an opponent whom he has sent off the edge.
Terrible

SPACING

*Extreme Long Distance
The only thing really going for Link here is his bow, which can rack some damage but is too slow and not powerful enough for it to be effective most of the time. While he can do more than most characters at this distance, it really doesn't mean much.
Bearable

*Long Distance
Link has a few reliable options here. His boomerang can now come into play, his bombs, as well as his bow (which is far more effective here than in Extreme Long Distance). He can rack damage and control the enemy a little here, but Link needs his close-range kill moves to be effective.
Bearable

*Medium Distance
Although Links projectiles can really be handy for stopping a beserker opponent, Link's projectiles are too slow and laggy to do more than interrupt the opponent and give Link a quick breather. However, Link's Zair comes into play here- with it he can control taller opponents and give him some spacing and damage racking.
Bearable

*Short Distance
All of Link's good moves are here. His combos, killing moves, etc are all here. And yet we see Link's greatest advantage also has its flaws- Link's attacks are somewhat laggy and so he is punishable. Link can't keep up if it becomes a close range battle- so Link needs to move back to his projectiles and zair a little bit. It's only comfortable if Link can land a solid hit.
Bearable

KILLING

*Killing Power
Link has no lack of killing power. ftilt, utilt, dtilt, dsmash, fsmash (both hits), upB (initial frames), dair, fair (2nd hit is best), uair, nair (initial frame), usmash... An opponent will need to be very wary and play extremely defensively to avoid getting KO'ed.
Amazing

*Gimping Potential
Theoretically Link has decent gimping potential... but in actual play Link suffers here. Against tether characters Link has an effective tether that can be used multiple times to give him back his invincibility frames on the edge, but this doesn't work against characters like Wolf and Metaknight. He can also bair an opponent and then tether back to the stage but this also has limited effectiveness and can be punished by some characters.
Below Average

The total points would be 21

 

[sasook]

...but this doesn't work against characters like Wolf and....

Really? I find it most effective on the star fox characters. Izaw even used Wolf as an example in his video lol.

 

[Anonano]

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but whenever I try the tethering trick (single use or repeated) I always get hit by one of the "mid hits" or the final kick.

Wait...
Someone read my post and didn't think it was stupid! Yay!
This is for you Sasook:
http://twiggs.org/images/759-chocolate-chip-walnut-cookie.jpg

 

[sasook]

Lol, thanks. Why should anyone think your post is stupid? All posts here are thoughtful, or at least well-intentioned, save for one user who is on my ignore list.

Really, you were the one who provided the evidence that Mario jumped in my video.

 

[Blubba_Pinecone]

I'm gonna add something very small I don't see people mentioning...

Bair and Nair = godly awesome stage spikers. :D lol

Bair a person who's hangin' around on the ledge to long. Just dash off the side and hit the cstick towards the stage, let physics do the rest.

Nair is when you're on the ledge and someone tries to recover from below, just drop off the ledge and Nair them. Works pretty good most the time.

 

[DRaGZ]

You have good knowledge about Ganondorf, quite impressed

I...uhm...didn't do Ganondorf's hehehe. *scratches head sheepishly*

But I did agree with it almost completely, which is why I put it up.

 

[SuSa]

ZONING

* On the ground
Link can minor utilt lock (normally ending in usmash), has a jab lock, can BAL/BACL lock (leads to true pivot fsmash/running up-B, another BAl/BACL), powerful fsmash, an extremely quick dsmash. He can jab cancel into basically any tilt, a grab, dsmash, or up-B. His projectiles make him a great camper, and he has a situational DAC approach. His craq walk/pivot boost coupled with smooth boot can make him much quicker then he seems, and allows him to do sliding ftilts and overall mindgames.

I would rate this Above Average

* In the air
Link has a good aerial game. Zair is great for spacing and racking up damage, it can lead into a dash-grab, a DAC, or a "quick" dash attack or bombslide. He has a sex kick (nair) and two "two hit" aerials (bair and fair) that can deal good knockback, or be auto-canceled onto the stage and followed up with his ground game. His dair is probably one of the most epic aerials ever with immense priority, awesome power, and KO's in the 100-120% range with ease. However his uair is pretty lacking, even if it is hard to airdodge it. The only thing his aerials really lack however is reach, or disjointed hitboxes. Characters like Peach and Olimar demolish Link in the air.

I would rate this Average.

* Off-stage
First off, Link has a HORRIBLE recovery, but an awesome edgegame. He can stage spike with bair or nair, he has his gale boomerang to "gale guard" against those with bad recoveries/easily gimpable horizantally recoveries. Link also has his zair tether, allowing him to zair edgehog which can be epic, and is far more then what many other characters have.

the only problem is if Link is hit away from stage/down, his chances of survival are basically none, and often a mis-done gale guard can kill you rather then help you. Because of the risks and drawbacks of his edgeguarding, and being able to gimp with aerials.

I would rate this Below Average, the risk taken to go off-stage often outdoes the reward.


SPACING

* Extreme long distance
Link has a boomerang, and chargeable arrows. Against almost the entire cast, this is what Link enjoys! You can camp for a long time at this distance.

Above Average

* Long distance
Except Samus, and Toon Link who have just about the same range, this is another distance Link just excels at!

Above Average

* Medium distance
Link doesn't do to hot here, this limits him just down to zair and even that can miss.

Below Average

* Short distance

Link doesn't like being close, he has his zair and ftilt to space here. Another bad spot for Link to be in.

Below Average


KILLING

* Killing power
Link has some issues killing unless he can get in a dsmash or an fsmash. If a Link stales those moves, he can only rely on utilt at REALLY high %'s, and perhaps a lucky Ftilt near the edge. I would rate this Below Average because of this.
* Gimping potential

Link has an awesome gimping potential, but the bad recovery and chance of dying is a major drawback, hence I rate this Average.

 

[kigbariom]

link is better in brawl than he has ever been, his bow, up smash, everything.