Is Link Viable?

[Zekersaurus]

I mean, he has obvious flaws, easily comboed, easily gimped recovery, and poor mobility and probably a more that I didn't know about or just forgot, but he has strengths too.

Just about everything he does hurts. Most of his moves can either KO or set you up for more damage. He has many disjointed hit boxes. He can spam and camp really well, and his decent number of KO options and non-linear character design, in the hands of a good player make him hard to predict and his mindgames very strong.

I think Link is severely underrated but what do you guys think?

Is Link Viable in Tournaments?

Edit: Why or why not?

 

[whitegirlwednesday]

N o

 

[Bigglestheman]

N o

You didn't come up with a reason why. Also its probably because you wanted to see this crazy MKII secret.

MKII secrets coming at ya

SECRET MKII CHARACTER YOU CAN FIGHT REMEMBER YOU HEARD IT FROM ME BEFORE NINTENDO POWER ****ING EXPOSES THE SECRET!

Also he's called Smoke


I know you're all mind blown.

 

[FrootLoop]

N o

 

[Strong Badam]

N o

 

[Zekersaurus]

N o

N o

N o

Really?... Ffs, I don't have a thought that's 2 characters long. In whitegirl's defense I did not ask you all to further elaborate on your opinions prior to the edit, though I thought that was implied.

But really, no... Just no... Wtf does that tell me?

You didn't come up with a reason why. Also its probably because you wanted to see this crazy MKII secret.

MKII secrets coming at ya

SECRET MKII CHARACTER YOU CAN FIGHT REMEMBER YOU HEARD IT FROM ME BEFORE NINTENDO POWER ****ING EXPOSES THE SECRET!

Also he's called Smoke


I know you're all mind blown.

... That's... better

 

[J.Shadows]

My Link is viable I don't care what anyone says. If you can take one stock what's to stop you from taking 3 more? You just have to work a bit harder.

 

[xKobayashi]

J666's link is so viable it hurts, honestly man keep it up you have amazing potential

 

[Looticforgothispassword]

If you by viable mean that the character-choice is less important than your skill, then yes. If you mean that he might still have untapped potential, then yes. If you mean that it will be easy, then no. Low tiers get more and more viable for each day that passes. Axe got that pikachu, Taj play the previously worst character in the game and still win, Armada a nasty puff-slaughtering young link and Leffen got a pretty nice yoshi(and often says yoshi is underestimated).

Link is very difficult to get your mind around, you will be under pressure most of the match and a big part of playing him is avoiding trouble. You get a lot of the tools to get away though and some good counter-attack options. Good OoS options in nair and bombs, good CC being a heavyweight, good projectiles that comboes, good range attacks with jabs and fair, good recovery and good ledge options.

 

[Zekersaurus]

If you by viable mean that the character-choice is less important than your skill, then yes. If you mean that he might still have untapped potential, then yes. If you mean that it will be easy, then no. Low tiers get more and more viable for each day that passes. Axe got that pikachu, Taj play the previously worst character in the game and still win, Armada a nasty puff-slaughtering young link and Leffen got a pretty nice yoshi(and often says yoshi is underestimated).

Link is very difficult to get your mind around, you will be under pressure most of the match and a big part of playing him is avoiding trouble. You get a lot of the tools to get away though and some good counter-attack options. Good OoS options in nair and bombs, good CC being a heavyweight, good projectiles that comboes, good range attacks with jabs and fair, good recovery and good ledge options.

I'm not a tier ho by any means, in fact I tend to main low tiers and stay away from top tiers, and not purposely. I just play the characters I have fun playing. I believe more than half the time skill is more important than the character but at highest level of play some characters just don't cut it. If there are any characters like that in melee, I don't think Link is one of them.

 

[J.Shadows]

J666's link is so viable it hurts, honestly man keep it up you have amazing potential

Thanks

 

[Smurfy EXE]

I fail to see what this thread is trying to prove...

Sure, Link has his flaws... But what makes him 'worse' is the lack of a drive of those who do play him.

Link can stand his own ground, he just has to work much harder and play a lot smarter.

 

[Problem2]

Most of link's moves can be crouch cancelled then punished, and at low percent, many of his moves have huge frame disadvantage, even if it was a clean hit. If his moves has more stun, I think he would be very viable. You have to rely either on a very select few moves when your opponent is at low percent or hope that your opponent doesn't realize that he or she can simply punch you back all the time.

 

[J.Shadows]

Smurfy knows wassup

 

[Zekersaurus]

Most of link's moves can be croutch cancelled then punished, and at low percent, many of his moves have huge frame disadvantage, even if it was a clean hit. If his moves has more stun, I think he would be very viable. You have to rely either on a very select few moves when your opponent is at low percent or hope that your opponent doesn't realize that he or she can simply punch you back all the time.

You know what? I've noticed that. He's very punishable. You can abuse those fairs, nairs, bombs though.

 

[Shadic]

He's a bad character in Melee.

 

[Looticforgothispassword]

Don't forget jabs, bair.

I don't think that list of moves is all that bad. Just avoid UpB and dair when they doesn't kill.

I never felt it was links fault that I got punished at lower percentages, cause he have enough tools at low percentages to not be played predictable and link can at all occasions be played safe.

A short cathegorisation I feel is how I think is the main purpouse of each of links moves:
safe moves - bair, nair, jab, fair, bomb, rang(when long range)
kill moves - UpB, dair, fsmash
combo moves - dash attack, uair, utilt, dtilt
counter moves - dsmash, grab
situational moves - upsmash(sheildpoke someone on a platform), bow(certain edgeguard-situations), ftilt(certain edgeguard-situations)

 

[InTimidator]

I think that he has potential. GERM, for example, did pretty well against Scar last week and he kept it close. You need to know what you're doing and know how the match-up works.

 

[Bing]

He's a bad character in Melee.

He's a bad character in Smash as a whole. He's Low Tier in both Brawl and 64 lmfao

No but seriously, Link is probably the worst Viable character. He has a ton of obvious flaws, but I mean, he always has some up sides, I think the biggest issue most people have is his movement. He's way slower then he should(I swear they gave him the heavy boots from the Fire Temple in the Ocarina of Time).

The reason I ever considered using Link was because in this one combo video, I think it was "It's Amazing" video by HMW(TheWaffle77 or whatever his channel is) and Germ gets like a b-throw to bair, pivot grab up-throw upair. It's beautiful.

Use whatever character you want to use, if you enjoy using Link the most, you will get farthest with that character and enjoy doing it.

 

[RvlvRBobcat]

When i play someone like captain falcon in melee, i feel like just another falcon.
When i play someone like link in melee, i feel like a badass

 

[Bing]

When i play someone like captain falcon in melee, i feel like just another falcon.
When i play someone like link in melee, i feel like a badass

These character choices... I feel like this is backwards...

 

[Scidadle]

Yes. You just have to be really really good. None of the current link players are good enough to compete at top level.

No offense guyz

(Still beat me tho.)

 

[Bing]

Well there are a few that can COMPETE, like J666, Lord HDL, Skler? are probably the top 3...Internet Explorer is also up there. But yes, You have to be a solid player and be very dedicated to use a character like Link.

 

[InTimidator]

I think that to be able to play the game well at professional play, you need to be dedicated to the game. Like Armada, for example, he played the game everyday for at least an hour. That is dedication.

 

[Zodiac]

He's not viable because he is to slow.

 

[Looticforgothispassword]

Being too slow can't be the only reason. I mean, peach, puff and ganon are all "slow" characters. Still they are considered good.

 

[Bing]

Peach is actually pretty fast.. Puff has quick aerial mobility, Ganon is Ganon though. Link is way too slow, but I disagree that thats the reason he is not viable.. though a contributing factor to his current spot on the tier list.

 

[Looticforgothispassword]

Err... think we might want to define slow. I define it as how much space you can cover in a certain amount of frames.

I still dunno the reason Link sucks. Actually I think he doesn't, I just think it's that I suck since I can't perform better with any other character and I can always tell what I should improve on to not loose next time.

 

[InTimidator]

I do agree that Link cannot handle some match-ups to well (i.e. Fox/Falco). I have trouble handling Marth personally. It may just be the fact that I'm not the best.

 

[Bing]

The most obvious issues with Link:

Too Heavy, moves Slow and falls at a beautiful speed for combos

Struggles against Fox in that shine REALLY ***** him(Obvious Recovery) and gets stacked hardcore by upairs.
Struggles against most high tiers in general.

 

[ElloEddy]

why ppl hating on link he's amazing...hope a link knocks you all outta pools next major lol .....he got fast areials that have alot of priority and if he gets under you ....your ****ED ...upb outta shield is like the BEST one in the game and his spacing is amazing

 

[Bing]

why ppl hating on link he's amazing...hope a link knocks you all outta pools next major lol .....he got fast areials that have alot of priority and if he gets under you ....your ****ED ...upb outta shield is like the BEST one in the game and his spacing is amazing

Umm... Link might have fast aerials, but they don't exactly have great knockback. Up-B OOS is very punishable. I've actually never lost to a Link in tournament... not that I've played any good ones. I actually really want to team with Internet Explorer... I think the name would be funny... Bing and Internet Explorer...

 

[Zekersaurus]

Link's biggest flaw is his recovery. It's gotta be. Projectiles can compensate for his lack of speed. He gets comboed easily but he can also take a lot of punishment, and if I'm not mistaken, his crouch cancel is boss.

His recovery just sucks though. It's like Link's a fly and Fox's reflector is a bug zapper... Do not want T_T

 

[Nintendude]

Link's smashes and up-B don't kill until like 110-130% and he has very few reliable ways of hitting with them. His dair is better but still not easy to land. I'd say that combined with his lackluster ability to punish mistakes / combo make him pretty bad.

 

[Smurfy EXE]

Link's biggest flaw is his recovery. It's gotta be...

...His recovery just sucks though. It's like Link's a fly and Fox's reflector is a bug zapper... Do not want T_T

No, that's just called you suck playing as Link...

 

["69%"]

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[Looticforgothispassword]

Link's smashes and up-B don't kill until like 110-130% and he has very few reliable ways of hitting with them. His dair is better but still not easy to land. I'd say that combined with his lackluster ability to punish mistakes / combo make him pretty bad.

Links dair got a lot of setups, a lot more than many characters that is above him, and a lot of them is stupid safe. Best is bomb->dair, but tech chase dair is also pretty easy to land, especially on a platform. The up B is mostly useful against fox,falco and CF where you can combo into it from just about anything. Using these moves at random is stupid and dangerous.

I kinda agree Link has some trouble getting shine gimped, but then again even puff can be shine gimped so I dunno if I wanna call it a Link exclusive problem.

 

[KirbyKaze]

Depends on what your goal is. If "viable" is winning a Pound or APEX then probably not. If "viable" is getting top 32 at either of those then yeah probably. Depends.

 

[BRLNK88]

The only way Link is really viable is when he's the the hands of a very skilled player who's best character happens to be Link.
Best examples are Germ and HDL.

If you play Link because he's fun and your best character, that's fine, just don't expect to win much.

 

[Looticforgothispassword]

The only way Link is really viable is when he's the the hands of a very skilled player who's best character happens to be Link.
Best examples are Germ and HDL.

And this does not apply to other characters?

No offense, just flipping the argument.