I need some tips on how to play Zelda decently.

[LiamBarrak1999]

Zelda's really fun to use and I want to get good at using her. But I can't find anything. So does anyone got any Zelda tips?

 

[Tattles]

Playing her, the first thing you'd probably think is that her specials are a core part of her gameplay, similar to Duck Hunt, being a mage and all, but this is definitely not true. Her tilts and aerials are the majority of her effective gameplay.

Her down tilt sends people pretty much straight up, and can be followed up with a lot of moves, usually fair or nair. Remember that her down throw sends people behind her, so if you're following up, you want a bair, not a fair.

Fair and bair are definitely her best kill moves, and learning to consistently sweetspot them both is very important. If you land a perfect fair offstage, they're pretty much done for.

Farore's Wind covers a little more than half of Battlefield and exactly half of Final Destination, and against characters that keep their distance, you can catch people offguard with it. Example: Samus, Lucario, or Wii Fit Trainer charging their neutral B's; if you have the spacing right, they'll have little to no time to react and die, at higher percent stand-offs.

She relies a lot on spacing overall, due to Farore's Wind, Din's Fire, and sweetspot aerials being her best moves for putting down damage and killing.

I honestly have no idea if the Phantom is useful at all. In my experience it's not, but better having someone else comment on that.

ALSO! Nayru's Love is very good for ****-blocking approaches, command-grabs, and punishing. I noticed that against my friends Ganondorf, for example, Flame Choke was useless if I reacted in time, and he would just bounce of and take a little bit of damage instead. It only hits with one damage-tick though, I think. Not sure if it works on Diddy, but it definitely should.

 

[Einyuri]

Ah.. I can go on all day about Zelda.. <3 So prepare for a long post.

Starting off with just Zelda, she's a fairly light character so she's able to be knocked out quickly, but if played and spaced right Zelda can dish out some really good damage, and KO characters at fairly low percents (80 - 90% KO's on even heavies if sweet spots are hit just right.)

The sweet spots on her Fair and Bair are the love of her life. Learn to land them and space them really well, as it's eccentric to her KO game.

Her Nair is also very good for converting off of certain things like Tattles said above, D-throws and D-tilts. Zelda's U-tilt is no longer as reliable of a KO move as it is a combo move now as it does not provide as much knockback, the KO potential of it is a lot less than it is in previous iterations of Zelda. But you can still create some combo possibilities off of it, so it didn't lose it's usefulness completely.

Zelda's Dair is an okay meteor, though much like her Fair and Bair, you need to sweetspot it to get a really good meteor going, otherwise it'll send the opponent down, but with not nearly enough power to kill; they'll be able to recover fairly easily.

Another great KO move however is Zelda's Uair. Her Uair has a sweetspot like her Dair, Fair and Bair, but this one still packs a pretty damn good punch even if you miss the sweetspot, I've killed certain characters at around 110 - 120% with a non-sweetspot Uair, and even 90% with a sweetspotted Uair. It's a great tool to use when playing zelda as you can also convert into an U-Air from a d-throw, though that's depending on the opponents percentage of course.

As for Zelda's specials, Din's Fire is a great spacing tool that you can use to create pressure in certain situations (Like forcing an enemy to move from the ledge if they are camping, or to force a high percentage enemy to approach you if they're trying to play the ranged game.) Though you don't want to use it too much or the enemy will be come privy to your tactics. It has a bit of a start-up time, so if the enemy is waiting to see your Din's fire come out, unless you're anticipating their approach and can detonate it early; you're going to more than likely be punished for using the move.

Dins Fire can also be used as a KO move, though like most other KO moves from Zelda that too has a sweetspot that you'd like to land to get the most out of the move, though the sweetspot isn't nearly as hard to land as say.. the Dair sweetspot, but there is still one there.

Farore's wind was buffed considerably from her last iterations, but there is a glaring issue that I would like to go over before I continue with my opinion/tips. Her Farore's wind is a little wonky in the fact that if you try to teleport downwards towards the ground, if the teleport reaches the ground during the teleport and you are still holding a direction.. Zelda will suddenly slide VERY QUICKLY to whatever direction you're holding.. To better explain this, watch this gif.

Props to Muhznit for putting the gif up: http://gfycat.com/ZestyDapperGalapagospenguin

You can go to this thread to discuss that here: http://smashboards.com/threads/possibly-critical-design-flaw-in-faores-wind.372420/

So be weary when you use your Farore's wind, this could possibly happen and it's happened to me more times than I can count, costing me a stock and at times the match.. However, moving on.

As I said before, Farore's wind was buffed considerably from it's last iteration, not only increasing the range in which you teleport with Zelda, but it has KO potential now, and a lot of it. You'll want to be weary however in using it too much, Farore's wind has a pretty long start up time as well as recovery time upon reaching the ground, and it CAN be shielded, so using it in an attempt to get a KO off on an opponent when they're grounded or able to spot-dodge/roll/air-dodge is a big no no unless you want to be punished.

But the move isn't without it's pluses. Aside from being a great KO move, you're also able to convert from an u-throw into Farore's wind, and if you can land it on the opponent at high percentages.. That's a guaranteed kill.

Moving onto Nayru's love. Like Tattles said it's very good for blocking advances from your opponents, though some moves will still go through Nayru's love; causing both yourself and the enemy to be hit for a moment. It also blocks most projectiles if not all of them, so it's good for going against most zoning characters. However the knockback and damage of the shield itself was nerfed slightly from it's brawl iteration.

And for the last special.. This one is an interesting one to talk about.. Zelda's Phantom Slash. Now this move is very interesting because it has very little perks to it but when you do use it correctly it becomes a very useful tool in that instance. From what I've learned Phantom Slash has only provided usage to me as an edge guarding tool of the sorts. I've had only a few successful edge guards with the phantom though, so it's tough to say if this good is useful for that or not. It has it's moments, you could say.

The Phantom is not a walking hitbox however, the only time the phantom does any sort of damage is when it slashes it's sword out towards the opponent, so using it on an approaching opponent that's close to you will merely push him away very slightly, not only causing damage but leaving you open to an attack since you're able to run straight through the phantom.

All in all, the Phantom is a bit of a situational move, not something I'd use all the time like.. Say Din's Fire. If you're looking for zoning and spacing, I'd rather go with Din's Fire than Phantom Slash in most cases.

And that does it for my long post on Zelda. Sorry that it was so long, I could go on for days with this character. Hopefully you'll enjoy playing her as much as I, she really is a fun character to use.. And beating all the stronger characters of the game (looking at you Rosalina and Sheik) with her feels great.

Have a good one.

 

[Phenomiracle]

You guys covered pretty much everything; nice work.

Also, don't be afraid to chase opponents deep off-stage to land aerials (particularly Dair), since the changed ledge mechanics and modified FW makes Zelda's recovery one of the very best.

Learn to consistently sweet-spot a SH Fair, but be wary of ******** landing lag.

And just one more time for emphasis: Ftilt is amazing.

 

[Tattles]

Also, if your opponent doesn't have any blink rolls (**** you rosalina) or teleports (palutena, sheik), in which case it may be more useful to tap them, then you should definitely tap Zelda on the bottom screen to put the border around her.

It helps a lot, as you'll be able to see where Zelda theoretically is during Farore's Wind, so you can properly prepare to follow up/react, since you'll have a better understanding of where you will land.



AND NEVER FORGET THE DISRESPECT POTENTIAL OF HER DOWN TAUNT. ALWAYS USE THIS WHEN YOU KO SOMEONE OFF THE SIDES OR BOTTOM. IT IS MANDATORY.

 

[Alacion]

Hope opponent approaches, spam Farore's Wind.

 

[LiamBarrak1999]

Ah.. I can go on all day about Zelda.. <3 So prepare for a long post.

Starting off with just Zelda, she's a fairly light character so she's able to be knocked out quickly, but if played and spaced right Zelda can dish out some really good damage, and KO characters at fairly low percents (80 - 90% KO's on even heavies if sweet spots are hit just right.)

The sweet spots on her Fair and Bair are the love of her life. Learn to land them and space them really well, as it's eccentric to her KO game.

Her Nair is also very good for converting off of certain things like Tattles said above, D-throws and D-tilts. Zelda's U-tilt is no longer as reliable of a KO move as it is a combo move now as it does not provide as much knockback, the KO potential of it is a lot less than it is in previous iterations of Zelda. But you can still create some combo possibilities off of it, so it didn't lose it's usefulness completely.

Zelda's Dair is an okay meteor, though much like her Fair and Bair, you need to sweetspot it to get a really good meteor going, otherwise it'll send the opponent down, but with not nearly enough power to kill; they'll be able to recover fairly easily.

Another great KO move however is Zelda's Uair. Her Uair has a sweetspot like her Dair, Fair and Bair, but this one still packs a pretty damn good punch even if you miss the sweetspot, I've killed certain characters at around 110 - 120% with a non-sweetspot Uair, and even 90% with a sweetspotted Uair. It's a great tool to use when playing zelda as you can also convert into an U-Air from a d-throw, though that's depending on the opponents percentage of course.

As for Zelda's specials, Din's Fire is a great spacing tool that you can use to create pressure in certain situations (Like forcing an enemy to move from the ledge if they are camping, or to force a high percentage enemy to approach you if they're trying to play the ranged game.) Though you don't want to use it too much or the enemy will be come privy to your tactics. It has a bit of a start-up time, so if the enemy is waiting to see your Din's fire come out, unless you're anticipating their approach and can detonate it early; you're going to more than likely be punished for using the move.

Dins Fire can also be used as a KO move, though like most other KO moves from Zelda that too has a sweetspot that you'd like to land to get the most out of the move, though the sweetspot isn't nearly as hard to land as say.. the Dair sweetspot, but there is still one there.

Farore's wind was buffed considerably from her last iterations, but there is a glaring issue that I would like to go over before I continue with my opinion/tips. Her Farore's wind is a little wonky in the fact that if you try to teleport downwards towards the ground, if the teleport reaches the ground during the teleport and you are still holding a direction.. Zelda will suddenly slide VERY QUICKLY to whatever direction you're holding.. To better explain this, watch this gif.

Props to Muhznit for putting the gif up:

You can go to this thread to discuss that here:

So be weary when you use your Farore's wind, this could possibly happen and it's happened to me more times than I can count, costing me a stock and at times the match.. However, moving on.

As I said before, Farore's wind was buffed considerably from it's last iteration, not only increasing the range in which you teleport with Zelda, but it has KO potential now, and a lot of it. You'll want to be weary however in using it too much, Farore's wind has a pretty long start up time as well as recovery time upon reaching the ground, and it CAN be shielded, so using it in an attempt to get a KO off on an opponent when they're grounded or able to spot-dodge/roll/air-dodge is a big no no unless you want to be punished.

But the move isn't without it's pluses. Aside from being a great KO move, you're also able to convert from an u-throw into Farore's wind, and if you can land it on the opponent at high percentages.. That's a guaranteed kill.

Moving onto Nayru's love. Like Tattles said it's very good for blocking advances from your opponents, though some moves will still go through Nayru's love; causing both yourself and the enemy to be hit for a moment. It also blocks most projectiles if not all of them, so it's good for going against most zoning characters. However the knockback and damage of the shield itself was nerfed slightly from it's brawl iteration.

And for the last special.. This one is an interesting one to talk about.. Zelda's Phantom Slash. Now this move is very interesting because it has very little perks to it but when you do use it correctly it becomes a very useful tool in that instance. From what I've learned Phantom Slash has only provided usage to me as an edge guarding tool of the sorts. I've had only a few successful edge guards with the phantom though, so it's tough to say if this good is useful for that or not. It has it's moments, you could say.

The Phantom is not a walking hitbox however, the only time the phantom does any sort of damage is when it slashes it's sword out towards the opponent, so using it on an approaching opponent that's close to you will merely push him away very slightly, not only causing damage but leaving you open to an attack since you're able to run straight through the phantom.

All in all, the Phantom is a bit of a situational move, not something I'd use all the time like.. Say Din's Fire. If you're looking for zoning and spacing, I'd rather go with Din's Fire than Phantom Slash in most cases.

And that does it for my long post on Zelda. Sorry that it was so long, I could go on for days with this character. Hopefully you'll enjoy playing her as much as I, she really is a fun character to use.. And beating all the stronger characters of the game (looking at you Rosalina and Sheik) with her feels great.

Have a good one.

Thanks for the tips! Also, I wanted to ask, but whats this "love jump" move that I've being hearing about on Zelda?

 

[evmaxy54]

Thanks for the tips! Also, I wanted to ask, but whats this "love jump" move that I've being hearing about on Zelda?

It's a Zelda AT from Brawl, where if she gets hit, Jump & Neutral B at the same & she does Nayru's Love but she rises into the air while doing it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8djTa_wHqtE
I'm not too sure if it is in this game, but if it is, it is a pain to do ;_;

On a unrelated note, learn to Roll Cancel Pivot Grab. Zelda benefits greatly from it (it's almost like a tether) :')
http://tinyurl.com/lra54wn

 

[Codster]

Learn to control Farore's Wind. As effective as it is, doing it wrong can be costly. It's easy to KO yourself. But, if used properly, it can be very effective. But try to avoid spamming it if you can. Most top level players will be wise to that act and punish you for it.

If you get KO'd, the moment you respawn and if your opponent is in range, use Farore's Wind to teleport from the respawn platform to their location. Not only might it catch them off guard, but you'll still be invulnerable to a counterattack if it doesn't hit them/they block it thanks to respawn.

I seldom even hit foes with Din's Fire. They always dodge or block it due to how long it takes to use. If you knock your opponent over the side and you position yourself properly, the Phantom Slash can be a good ledge attack. Nayru's Love is great for creating distance from your foe if they come in close and is also a great reflector.

As everyone else has already stated, her air attacks are great, but also require precise aiming.

So definitely practice Farore's Wind. Know its distances. And just keep trying!

 

[aLucidMind]

Going on what Codster says, Farore's Wind can also be a very good tool to play mind-games with human opponents and make them wonder where you're going to appear next. But, once again, most top-level players (and any who main as Zelda) will see through this.

 

[LeKevin]

I hope this will still be helpful by now... Einyuri pretty much covered a lot of the essentials, but the little bits that I can add....

Regarding Farore's Wind:

A pretty good technique, I guess AT as well maybe, that she can do, and it's a for sure kill if you land it, is Farore's Elevator. by at least 70%, and for sure 80%, if you go next to the opponent and simply press Up B with out holding down the control stick, Zelda will knock the opponent up with the start of Farore's Wind and then finish them with the burn. The only hard part is actually hitting them, which is possible by doing the neutral dodge after they try to smash/ grab/ etc. It has way less punishment then trying to hit the opponent with just Farore's Wind, because if you do miss, you can quickly switch her direction to teleport away from them, if you're quick enough.

Regarding Phantom Slash:
FIRST TO KNOW:
Stage 1: 1 second, slash upward
Stage 2: 2 seconds, slash downward
Step 3: 3 seconds, jab then upward slash.

At first I hated this move, now I use it a lot. It seems completely useless at first, but just mess around with it more and understand it's timing, stages, range, and hit box. It's a lot like Luma with Rosalina, people tend to have a strong desire to kill Phantom (for whatever reason in this case), and in that time you can nail them with din's fire/ Farore's Wind/ Grab/ Fair/ or basically anything. Also notice every characters recovery has some sort of start up lag, so when they're falling back to the stage edge, stand some ways away and charge up Phantom till they're initiating their recovery, or at least close enough to hit. There are so many times I've killed people like that. Phantom is also a good body shield, for the most part it blocks a lot of peoples moves and occasionally slows down a lot of their dashes when they advance towards you. It has pretty good knockback as well, even in the first stage, so a quick down B will knock them back and stun them long enough for a combo opening. Also, I've done this once, so I'm not sure if it just f'ed up or what, but if they're grabbing on to the ledge, stage 3 can scrape them off and kill them.

Overall, Zelda is a lot of timing and accuracy, SO PRACTICE AIMING FOR EVERYTHING.
When I explain her, I say she has 3 different attack forms: Defense, Offense, and Trap. Try to be able to mix all three together. Or at least Defense and offense

Deffense Zelda: You're mostly keeping them away with you're specials and throws, racking up their points and waiting for them to mess up so you can finish them with a sweet spot kill.
PROS: (GENERALLY SPEAKING, EVERYTHING DONE EFFECTIVELY)
-You can avoid heavy damage
-Helpful when you're about to die
CONS: (GENERALLY SPEAKING, EVERYTHING DONE WRONG)
-It won't be effective at all
-once they catch up with you, you're dead

Offense Zelda: You're not using you're specials as much as you are using her airs, tilts, and smashes that were described by Einyuri.
PROS:
-You can kill them quickly
-Very rewarding
CONS:
-Also very punishing
-Due to her having lack in priority with her moves, is not as effective for fast characters.

Trap Zelda: Basically, you're manipulating the opponent to do what you want.
PROS:
-Very rewarding, little punishment
-Completely control of the stage
CONS:
-You're either able to do it or not.

Sorry for how long it is. And best of luck

 

[VinceIrons]

Had to quit lurking to share some thoughts, since Zelda is far and away my favorite Sm4sh character. Everyone else has covered most of what you need to know, so I'll just add some observations.

Nayru's Love is AMAZING against roll spammers. It has a long animation, and its last hit has a fair bit of range on it. Also a great way to create some space if you're getting crowded.

Din's Fire is best used as a kill move, or a fake-out. Landing a sweetspot Din's against a recovering opponent isn't particularly hard (especially against larger foes), and can be an easy and very satisfying kill as they try to make it back on stage. Alternately, you can use it to bait a roll or an air dodge, and follow up with whatever's appropriate. Against slower opponents, you can use it on ground to halt an advance, and follow up with a dash while they're stunned, but fast opponents can quickly move in range and punish, so avoid using it if you're less than half a stage away.

Farore's Wind is your bread and butter, and is a crazy effective kill move. As others have said, it's very important to learn how to control this. It's both a strong evasive tool and a strong kill move. You can use it to recover from being knocked in the air and avoid an aerial combo (though be very wary of the start up lag), recover from being knocked off stage and either hit your opponent or avoid edgeguarding, recover to the ledge from below, can tele behind a charging opponent, or just stay in place to confuse / bait / taunt your opponent. On the offensive side, Farore's is a great way to punish laggy moves or to catch an unprepared opponent, and can kill as early as 110%. Very satisfying way to end a match. However, it does have laggy start up and ending, so don't use it if your opponent is close and not lagging, nor should you use it against a neutral opponent who can just shield and punish.

Phantom is underrated IMO. LeKevin describes why it's a good move very well, so read that. It's another good fakeout move, can absorb some attacks, can be a smokescreen for a dash or Din's or ftilt / fsmash. The second swing on a full charged Phantom is quite powerful, and can catch unaware opponents off guard. I tend to use it more as a distraction than as an offensive move.

This is getting long so I'll just briefly go over the standard attacks.

Jab is reasonably fast and has good range, useful when your opponent is close, and can be followed up with an ftilt.

Ftilt is really strong and has really good range and decent speed, but is useless against close opponents as the hitbox extends from Zelda's hand.

Dtilt can be used twice in a row at low %s, and can be followed up with a jab / ftilt / fsmash.

I almost never use Utilt or Usmash. Look like they'd be good for someone SH over you, but I've never been able to consistently use them, so can't say much about their effectiveness.

Fsmash is pretty strong, has good range, and lasts fairly long. You'll probably want to use ftilt instead most of the time, but fmash has its uses.

Dsmash has short range, but a fair amount of knockback and sends opponents horizontally. I usually prefer Nayru's over Dsmash against rollers.

Fair/Bair are your strongest kill moves, can KO at 70 - 80%. However, sourspot doesn't have a lot of knockback, and if you use it at low % and don't sweetspot you're very vulnerable to a punish during landing lag. As much as you may want to, don't chase a fair/bair, rather, wait until you have an opening. Combing out of a dthrow or a SH Bair over an attack is very effective.

Nair is also a good combo out of a dthrow, or any time you're in the air and your opponent is too close.

Uair is pretty powerful, but it's slow and requires very precise timing. Seems pretty easy for opponents to anticipate and air dodge out of it. Not something I use a lot, but I should learn to use it.

Dair is another powerful move if you sweetspot, but given the low knockback on a sourspot, it's easy to get punished if you use this. Another move I don't use much, so can't talk much about it.

Dash is excellent if timed right, as are most dashes. Her's has some good range, knockback, and stays out there awhile. Can sometimes follow up a dash with a dash after they land.

That ended up a lot longer than anticipated, hope there's some useful info here!

 

[LiamBarrak1999]

Had to quit lurking to share some thoughts, since Zelda is far and away my favorite Sm4sh character. Everyone else has covered most of what you need to know, so I'll just add some observations.

Nayru's Love is AMAZING against roll spammers. It has a long animation, and its last hit has a fair bit of range on it. Also a great way to create some space if you're getting crowded.

Din's Fire is best used as a kill move, or a fake-out. Landing a sweetspot Din's against a recovering opponent isn't particularly hard (especially against larger foes), and can be an easy and very satisfying kill as they try to make it back on stage. Alternately, you can use it to bait a roll or an air dodge, and follow up with whatever's appropriate. Against slower opponents, you can use it on ground to halt an advance, and follow up with a dash while they're stunned, but fast opponents can quickly move in range and punish, so avoid using it if you're less than half a stage away.

Farore's Wind is your bread and butter, and is a crazy effective kill move. As others have said, it's very important to learn how to control this. It's both a strong evasive tool and a strong kill move. You can use it to recover from being knocked in the air and avoid an aerial combo (though be very wary of the start up lag), recover from being knocked off stage and either hit your opponent or avoid edgeguarding, recover to the ledge from below, can tele behind a charging opponent, or just stay in place to confuse / bait / taunt your opponent. On the offensive side, Farore's is a great way to punish laggy moves or to catch an unprepared opponent, and can kill as early as 110%. Very satisfying way to end a match. However, it does have laggy start up and ending, so don't use it if your opponent is close and not lagging, nor should you use it against a neutral opponent who can just shield and punish.

Phantom is underrated IMO. LeKevin describes why it's a good move very well, so read that. It's another good fakeout move, can absorb some attacks, can be a smokescreen for a dash or Din's or ftilt / fsmash. The second swing on a full charged Phantom is quite powerful, and can catch unaware opponents off guard. I tend to use it more as a distraction than as an offensive move.

This is getting long so I'll just briefly go over the standard attacks.

Jab is reasonably fast and has good range, useful when your opponent is close, and can be followed up with an ftilt.

Ftilt is really strong and has really good range and decent speed, but is useless against close opponents as the hitbox extends from Zelda's hand.

Dtilt can be used twice in a row at low %s, and can be followed up with a jab / ftilt / fsmash.

I almost never use Utilt or Usmash. Look like they'd be good for someone SH over you, but I've never been able to consistently use them, so can't say much about their effectiveness.

Fsmash is pretty strong, has good range, and lasts fairly long. You'll probably want to use ftilt instead most of the time, but fmash has its uses.

Dsmash has short range, but a fair amount of knockback and sends opponents horizontally. I usually prefer Nayru's over Dsmash against rollers.

Fair/Bair are your strongest kill moves, can KO at 70 - 80%. However, sourspot doesn't have a lot of knockback, and if you use it at low % and don't sweetspot you're very vulnerable to a punish during landing lag. As much as you may want to, don't chase a fair/bair, rather, wait until you have an opening. Combing out of a dthrow or a SH Bair over an attack is very effective.

Nair is also a good combo out of a dthrow, or any time you're in the air and your opponent is too close.

Uair is pretty powerful, but it's slow and requires very precise timing. Seems pretty easy for opponents to anticipate and air dodge out of it. Not something I use a lot, but I should learn to use it.

Dair is another powerful move if you sweetspot, but given the low knockback on a sourspot, it's easy to get punished if you use this. Another move I don't use much, so can't talk much about it.

Dash is excellent if timed right, as are most dashes. Her's has some good range, knockback, and stays out there awhile. Can sometimes follow up a dash with a dash after they land.

That ended up a lot longer than anticipated, hope there's some useful info here!

Yes, this was useful. Thanks!

 

[Fernosaur]

Playing Zelda is a lot about predictions and reads, since her moveset isn't super solid. All of her attacks require a lot of precision, and she has a little bit of trouble closing in on opponents due to a lack of tools (despite what Farore's may look like, if you get too predictable with it you will get punished HARD for being obvious with your teleports, since the reappearance lag is super huge).

A lot of people have covered Farore's Wind and Nayru's, so I'm going to add a little something about Din's Fire. Forgive if someone already mentioned this!

Din's Fire is a bit useless as a projectile itself, so don't really hope to be hitting much with it. The animation is slow, the hitbox isn't that huge, and I'm not 100% if it's the case in Sm4sh, but in Brawl it wasn't transcendent, so the explosion could be stopped by using any attack, making it "clash."

However, you have to use it's predictability to your advantage.

Sometimes when someone is coming up to you form the air or even from the ground, you can use Din's Fire, setting it up to detonate right between you and your opponent. This will almost always force them to airdodge, roll or shield. If they shield it, well, there's not much you can do. However, if they roll or airdodge they've just opened up for one of your attacks. A lot of the times they will airdodge right towards you, which will set them up for an incredibly easy F-smash, grab, F-tilt or what have you.


TL;DR: using Din's Fire as a baiting move is far more useful than using it to actually attack.

Be careful though, since some characters have some good closing moves that can **** this tactic up, like Sheik's Bouncing Fish or Mac's side-B, whatever that thing is called.


Another thing to note about her approaches is that her dash attack (A while running) is AFAIC vastly improved from what it was in Brawl, and it chains well into itself. However, don't try to use it too much as an actual approach option, since it's super telegraphable and it has considerable ending lag. The nice thing about this being the only move Zelda has that serves as a grounded approach, is that a lot of people will actually expect you to use it and just sit in their shields, getting ready to shield-grab you. You can use this to your advantage and use a grab instead, or run past them and use a pivot grab. Or an aerial. I once won a tournament by running past a grab-happy DDD and giving him a short-hopped B-air after he put his shield down.


In short, Zelda is slightly difficult to play, specially after people begin to notice your patterns, so you have to be constantly looking for ways to surprise them and catch them off guard. Some bad match ups will be a real uphill struggle, but in the end you have to be really intelligent when using her and you'll feel super rewarded when you win terrible match ups against good players

Also, PRACTICE THOSE SWEETSPOTS!! ALL OF THEM :D

 

[Tyketto]

I tend to use Din's Fire when my opponent is off stage. 9/10 times, I don't KO them this way, as most people will air dodge the fireball on the way back to the stage. However, if they air dodge, this usually opens them up to attack when they land. It's a good way to keep the pressure on.

I'll echo what most people have already discussed about Farore's Wind, in that it's a great KO attack. I agree that it should be used sparingly, as most good players will get wise to it and counter it. I've found that, if you teleport from the air to the ground, you can do more damage with it. if you want to use it offensively, jump before you do!

Nayru's Love of course can reflect, but I also use it on approaching enemies to keep them back and deal a little damage.

Phantom Slash - I'm still getting used to it. I've found it can be good for defense, as it blocks most projectiles. Uncharged, it can be a quick knockback attack. I occasionally use it for edgeguarding, but I feel like Din's Fire is better for those purposes. If you can hit someone off stage with a fully charged Phantom, it has some KO potential.

 

[LiamBarrak1999]

Thanks for all the help, everyone.

 

[_LINK3N_]

Dunno if thats a little late, but if they dont jump/airdodge, you can (at low percents) follow up an uthrow to an USmash to a NAir
Does 35%
I often use it at the beginning of a match, especially against fastfallers/big characters

If they still dont react, you can fit a sweet-spottet BAir, for 55% total