I Have Absolutely No Idea how to Use this Character, but Would Very Much Like To

[Cooper736]

So I was at my friend's house this afternoon playing random, and what do you know, I pull Zelda three times in a row. Is this a message from the gods of Hyrule (the cool ones, not the animals)? I think so. Now, I haven't played any Zeldas or heard much about them, but I know that her sex kick does 20% and that mastery over Din's Fire is a must. My main questions involve

• Combos - Does she have them?
• Throws - Which are the best to use in a given situation? Should be going for distance to initiate Din spamming, or height to do some air attack?
• Recovery - If I'm in the air with a Marth coming at me, should I fend him off or use Farore's Wind to get to the ground? Marth can be any character in this situation
• Smashes - What should I be doing with them?

So basically everything. I haven't seen any thread like this on the first page, which makes me think there isn't one at all. I know I'm not the first or the last to wonder how to use this buffed-up Hylian princess, so perhaps this will be a help to us all. Thanks in advance for any help I may receive.

 

[Luthien]

As for Zelda's moveset, check out the first post of the Zelda Information Thread. Ryoko has done an incredible job of describing each move's abilities, buffs, and nerfs.

Also, a lot of what you should know has been discussed in the Melee Zelda board. So checking that out is a good idea too. Zelda is probably one of the character's who's changed not a whole lot between Brawl and Melee, so a lot of what you'll learn in that forum can be applied here. Except for kick spam. Ask Darkmusician. :]

If your having any specific problems, matchups, combos, stages, etc... try asking in Ryoko's advice thread, as I'm assuming his royal highness will soon start answering the questions asked there.

*Remember: Ryoko is a GUY. Knowing this will make your life easier.

Recovery: Take a look at the A N00b's guide to Farore's Wind thread. That should help.

 

[Wildfire393]

So I was at my friend's house this afternoon playing random, and what do you know, I pull Zelda three times in a row. Is this a message from the gods of Hyrule (the cool ones, not the animals)? I think so. Now, I haven't played any Zeldas or heard much about them, but I know that her sex kick does 20% and that mastery over Din's Fire is a must. My main questions involve

• Combos - Does she have them?
• Throws - Which are the best to use in a given situation? Should be going for distance to initiate Din spamming, or height to do some air attack?
• Recovery - If I'm in the air with a Marth coming at me, should I fend him off or use Farore's Wind to get to the ground? Marth can be any character in this situation
• Smashes - What should I be doing with them?

So basically everything. I haven't seen any thread like this on the first page, which makes me think there isn't one at all. I know I'm not the first or the last to wonder how to use this buffed-up Hylian princess, so perhaps this will be a help to us all. Thanks in advance for any help I may receive.

Her "combos" are few and far between. Some of the only combos she does have are the following:

Dtilt spam: The Dtilt and low percentages has really good stun and basically no knockback. Several of them can be linked quickly together. DIing away can cut this short, however.
Dtilt -> Whatever: At slightly higher percentages, the Dtilt combos into many things. Dsmash is my favorite choice here, but you could make a case for Fsmash, Ftilt, Usmash, Utilt, Jab, Naryu's Love, or Dash Attack, depending on the situation.
Jab/Dash/Fsmash mixup: These three moves are all quick and can be chained together fairly easily. Jab, and if they're still close, you can Fsmash. If they get pushed a little away, a Dash attack should put you back in range. If you hit with the end of the dash attack, it has low knockback but good stun, opening them up for another Jab/Dash-Attack/Fsmash.

As for throws, if you're near an edge, always try to throw them off of it. If you're not, go for the upthrow for its damage and maybe try to pursue with an Upair.

Recovery: Try to Farore's Wind before dipping below the ledge-line. Zelda has a hard time coming back from under the stage, but she is floaty enough that she can usually just land on it. If you are beng edgeguarded, either Farore's from far away, taking advantage of its range to avoid being hit, or airdodge through them and then Farore's. Bonus points if you farore's from far away and land on top of them, knocking them away.

Smashes: Her forward and upsmashes are potentially powerful both in terms of damage and knockback. However, they both can be escaped fairly easily with good DI. It's generally a good idea to avoid using them in most situations. The exception is when the opponent is charging at you and cannot stop. Their fairly long duration, quick speed, and high priority come into play here, making them useful as shields. Also, the Forward smash can be used in some ground combos occasionally, as stated above.
As for her downsmash, it is very fast, fairly powerful, and sends entirely horizontal. It's a great setup for a dair edgeugard spike kill. It's also a great "GTFO" move to give you breathing room. Also, if you are being grabbed and downthrown by a Dedede, tech-roll the first downthrow away and immediately downsmash and you will hit him faster than his second grab can get you.
It should be noted that her Forward Tilt and Up Tilt are actually quite good kill moves (especially the uptilt). The uptilt also has more vertical and horizontal range than the upsmash. In most situations, these are prefered to the Forward and Up Smashes.

 

[Eten]

I'm going to explain my basic mindset while playing Zelda. Din's fire is an amazing projectile, I will abuse it from range non-stop. Even if every Din's fire is dodged, it controls the fight and makes them approach me, where I can punish different actions. Din's fire can be used the same way as an edgeguard. If they come in too high or are forced to airdodge at the wrong time, it can lead into a sweet spotted aerial killing move. Other than that, mastery of Farore's wind greatly aids her recovery side of game.

 

[Luthien]

Also, I'm sure somebody's going to make a Zelda guide pretty soon. Be patient; someone smarter than us should come around and do all the work for us.

 

[blueriku]

Also, I'm sure somebody's going to make a Zelda guide pretty soon. Be patient; someone smarter than us should come around and do all the work for us.

i would make one but.....im just to lazy lol maybe just going to ryoko's info thread would be good enough for any one plus if ryoko would make the guide it not much he'd have to add the his info thread.

 

[Krytha]

Bad news dude. Zelda doesn't have a sex kick that does 20%. She has a sexy kick which CAN do 20%, but it isn't easy.

 

[Luthien]

I would also like to point out that Zelda is the character you should pick against roll spammers. Zelda was built to punish bad rolls. With attacks that surround her and last long periods of time, your enemy should be very afraid to roll behind you. If you ever expect them to try a roll, use Naryu's Love, Downsmash, a short hopped NAir (if you're approaching from the air; I tend to use Naruy's Love for this situation anyway), or even Upsmash and Sidesmash. With the sudden increase of rolling in Brawl, Zelda's going to be placing well for quite some time.

 

[Cooper736]

Bad news dude. Zelda doesn't have a sex kick that does 20%. She has a sexy kick which CAN do 20%, but it isn't easy.

I thought the definition of a sex kick is a kick that has the capacity to do 20%, but is not guaranteed to do so. Oh well, a sexy kick it is then.

Thanks for the help guys. I'm a Toon Link player right now, so not trying to combo very much will be both a challenge and a relief. For movement around the field, would you suggest that I basically try to stay in one place? From what I understand right now, Zelda is designed to bring her opponents to her, then punish them by sending them away and spamming Din's Fire. Yay or nay.

 

[S2]

Here's some Zelda tips. I won't go too far into details and this isn't a guide to playing her. There's a lot more than this, but I have to leave soon.

1.) Abuse din's fire. it's awesome in this game. Use it to bait people in (don't forget to predict where they are going to be, this is useful is someone is trying to roll or airdodge their way to you) and always to chase after you've hit them far away (you can kill with din's now).

Make characters come to her, as she doesn't have the best approaches.

2.) Naryu's love is your best friend. Not to abuse, but to force projectile opponents into approaching you. It's also good to knock away very close opponents. But yeah, you can be punished if you miss with one.

3.) Learn to time your b/f-air. It's hard. Harder than Melee, imo.

4.) Your up-smash, up-tilt, and up-air are all very powerful attacks with high priority. Use them to kill.

5.) Abuse your down smash. Its very fast and does decent knockback. Plus it hits on both sides and has less lag then your f-smash or f-tilt. The F-smash is good, but it has a longer startup time and only hits in 1 direction.

 

[goodkid]

What I do is to learn everything Zelda can do out of shield. UpSmash, Nayru's, jump, and arieals oos are very good.

I also learn all of the ledge tricks, ledge-hopped dins and nayru are very good.

 

[Wildfire393]

I thought the definition of a sex kick is a kick that has the capacity to do 20%, but is not guaranteed to do so. Oh well, a sexy kick it is then.

Thanks for the help guys. I'm a Toon Link player right now, so not trying to combo very much will be both a challenge and a relief. For movement around the field, would you suggest that I basically try to stay in one place? From what I understand right now, Zelda is designed to bring her opponents to her, then punish them by sending them away and spamming Din's Fire. Yay or nay.

A "Sex Kick" is a term used for an attack, usually a Neutral Aerial, that has long duration and range, hits all over, and has good priority and damage. There are also some forward and back aerials that fit this bill, and in smash64, most aerials had qualities like this. Sex kicks were definitely better in Melee than in Brawl, especially on characters like Fox (neutral and back), Falco (neutral and back, down has similar properties and is a spike), Sheik (neutral and back, up has similar properties), Samus (neutraL), Jigglypuff (neutral and forward), Link (neutral, though up and down have similar properties), Mario/Doc (neutral), and Luigi (neutral). There are still technically sex-kicks in Brawl, but most of them (Fox, Samus, Sheik) are much less powerful.

Zelda does need to move. Staying in one place will annoy your opponents (especially your friends) and it leaves you vulnerable to some other projectile spamming techniques. Some approach tactics are as follows:
*Dash attack - High priority and decent damage/knockback
*Dash Shield-Grab - Good range, good way to build some damage
*Farore's Wind - When it reappears, it damages and has low lag. If you space properly, you can hit them with this
*Shorthopped Aerials - Easily punished by a shield grab. Try mixing this up with Fair/Bairs, Nairs, and Naryu's Love.
*Roll -> Downsmash - The downsmash is a quick attack that hits on both sides of you. You can try rolling into one if you are so inclined.
*Din's Fire Gliding -> If you jump and move forward (or even backwards) and use Din's Fire, you will glide a bit until you detonate it, giving you some horizontal distance. You can use this to approach.

Of course, you can always try to force an approach with Din's Fire and Naryu's Love to reflect their projectiles.

 

[S2]

Obvious, but it should be noted to practice your tech skill and mindgames with Farore's (Up-B).

I'm not just talking on the ground (like doing up-b straight down as a fake out). I mean as a recovery.

If you screw up Farore's you can get punished big time. And a good opponent is going to try and predict whether your going for the edge or faking him out and landing on the stage.

 

[Cooper736]

Would you recommend try to hit the opponent with Farore's Wind? Even if I miss and land next to them, there aren't a whole lot of sweeping attacks.

 

[Luthien]

Would you recommend try to hit the opponent with Farore's Wind? Even if I miss and land next to them, there aren't a whole lot of sweeping attacks.

I wouldn't reccomend a constant FW attack. It gets really predicatble after a while, and if it gets shielded you're pretty much screwed.

But if you can, try it. Just don't attack with it every time; use it to both retreat and attack. Keep your enemy questioning what you will do when you use the move. That's hard to do when you spam it.

Also, there are some moves that can be punished by FW safely, and some that can't be. If Ike is charging his side b, jump and aim for him. It can only end well for you.