How to beat Link on FG?

[octobutts]

My five most used characters online are Dedede, Peach, Mario, Falcon and DK. But no matter who I'm playing as, I always dread seeing the other player choosing Link. He's super annoying to fight! Projectile-based characters are a chore to fight in general and he's probably the worst of the lot. He's like a powerhouse, at least online. He lures you in with projectiles, his attacks seem to take priority over EVERYTHING, he's heavy and can KO quickly. It seems like his usmash in particular just seems to cover everything. How are you supposed to beat these guys?

 

[1FC0]

Falcon might be able to rush him down like he can with R.O.B.
Although admittedly I do not know much about most matchups that does not include R.O.B.

 

[Planty]

Well first off his upsmash is super unsafe....

But anyway, what you want to do is learn to perfect shield. It's not too hard unless you're in massive lag. Just walk towards Link and perfect shield the projectiles he tosses at you (If you want to play Smash seriously, learning to approach projectile characters like this is a REQUIREMENT). If the Link player is using fully charged arrows though, the best option is just to jump over it.

Once you get near Link, just hold shield. From there try and see his reaction. Will he roll? Grab? Jump? If you can punish him for it, go ahead. If he gets away to spam some more projectiles, remember his action for the next time you approach. FG Links rarely mix it up.

I would also suggest going to the character boards of those that you play and finding more in-depth help there, instead of just the basics I wrote about here.

 

[Larry Atona]

Most of the Links I get online are @ss, they're very predictable so just be alert on what move they're gonna throw, since I use Fox against Links, I have no problem.

 

[ChaikaBestGirl]

jump, they can't spam at you that well in the air

 

[TurboLink]

jump, they can't spam at you that well in the air

That's the last thing you should be doing. His aerials come out faster than his ground moves and if he baits out an air dodge with his projectiles then prepare to be punished. And you also can't shield in the air.

 

[ChaikaBestGirl]

That's the last thing you should be doing. His aerials come out faster than his ground moves and if he baits out an air dodge with his projectiles then prepare to be punished. And you also can't shield in the air.

it usually works for me, once they start charging the bow or throw the gale boomerang I go at him with aerials because of the endlag of both of the two. You can get bonus style points for using Gale Boomerang to get closer to him

 

[Django2010]

it usually works for me, once they start charging the bow or throw the gale boomerang I go at him with aerials because of the endlag of both of the two. You can get bonus style points for using Gale Boomerang to get closer to him

Aerials work well against Link. I main him a lot and people tend to ditto. So, instead of using bow and boomerang, I mainly use his Nair to close the distance, followed by short jabs or a grab if players good. Just gotta watch out for his up smash.

 

[TurboLink]

it usually works for me, once they start charging the bow or throw the gale boomerang I go at him with aerials because of the endlag of both of the two. You can get bonus style points for using Gale Boomerang to get closer to him

Not all Link players are stupid. lmfao

 

[Planty]

@ TurboLink
We're talking about FG Link here. It's nearly a meme at this point that nearly all of them are terrible.