"It's Freakin' Link!" - A look at Link in Smash 4

[IntriguedGamer]

This is a fantastic guide. Also did not know about bomb jumping after up-b, and it has thrown the people i play with for a loop every time!

 

[link7]

Has anyone been having issues with jab/grab on the 3DS? I have a replay that shows me doing one jab, grabbing, and the chain going completely through the opponent. No airdodge, and it has happened on shields as well. Is it a patch, or is my timing messed up? Because I've been doing the jab/grab for a while, and it's only been recently that this has started happening.

 

[Zelkam]

Has anyone been having issues with jab/grab on the 3DS? I have a replay that shows me doing one jab, grabbing, and the chain going completely through the opponent. No airdodge, and it has happened on shields as well. Is it a patch, or is my timing messed up? Because I've been doing the jab/grab for a while, and it's only been recently that this has started happening.

wifi or no wifi? If it was on wifi then i would't be surprised if it was some nonsense like the opponent buffered a spotdodge but the grab canceled it and then missed.

 

[link7]

wifi or no wifi? If it was on wifi then i would't be surprised if it was some nonsense like the opponent buffered a spotdodge but the grab canceled it and then missed.

Yea it was Wifi. I just don't see a spot dodge though. Maybe I need to re-watch the replay, but I'm still not seeing any buffering.

 

[iAft3rbang]

Hi Link mains ! I'm currently trying to get a solid secondary who isn't tag as a top tier !! I'm currently hesitating between Link and Peach. I would like to know the pros and cons of Link ! What makes Link special and why you play him !

 

[Elessar]

Hi Link mains ! I'm currently trying to get a solid secondary who isn't tag as a top tier !! I'm currently hesitating between Link and Peach. I would like to know the pros and cons of Link ! What makes Link special and why you play him !

We play him because he's freaking Link. Also, this question a bit tough to answer. Read our rules and thanks for not creating a new thread.

I'll answer your question quite briefly. Link has a great spacing game, is fun and challenging to play, has good KO potential, he's Link, and has the best boards and community. His cons are his weight which leads to being easily juggled, a steep and unforgiving learning curve, tends to be on the slow end of everything (mobility, end lag, landing lag, hit lag) which means that you need to be quite focused everytime you play, and could be quite easily gimped unless you know how to recover.

 

[Xephilon]

Hi Link mains ! I'm currently trying to get a solid secondary who isn't tag as a top tier !! I'm currently hesitating between Link and Peach. I would like to know the pros and cons of Link ! What makes Link special and why you play him !

Elessar pretty much answered your question but I'll take a crack at it and give my thoughts.

Link's best suited for zoning/spacing. Using his various projectiles to his advantage making each hit count by connecting it to another (Boomerang to Fair/Bomb to Nair/etc). At first, he will feel sluggish, hard to make use of everything and pretty much hard to master but in the end its all worth it. He's a very versatile character that is able to handle all other playstyles and (IMO) extremely fun to play. Also, he's Link. Why NOT play him? xD But to make things easier, I'll do it in a list type.

Pros:
-Good KO potential with tilts and smashes.
-Zoning is godlike.
-Can handle any threat.
-At the hands of an experienced player, he's very fast and can combo into pretty much anything.
-Can gimp with boomerangs or stage spike with D-air/B-air.
-Pretty good both at air and ground fighting.
-Recovery got buffed hard, especially if you use bomb recovery (AT with Link)
-Can hit from any side (U-tilt, U smash and down smash hit both sides)

Cons:
-Slightly heavy so U-tilts can be used against him effectively and can be juggled a bit.
-People are stereotyping us as spammers
-YOU'RE NOT PLAYING HIM YET!

 

[iAft3rbang]

Elessar pretty much answered your question but I'll take a crack at it and give my thoughts.

Link's best suited for zoning/spacing. Using his various projectiles to his advantage making each hit count by connecting it to another (Boomerang to Fair/Bomb to Nair/etc). At first, he will feel sluggish, hard to make use of everything and pretty much hard to master but in the end its all worth it. He's a very versatile character that is able to handle all other playstyles and (IMO) extremely fun to play. Also, he's Link. Why NOT play him? xD But to make things easier, I'll do it in a list type.

Pros:
-Good KO potential with tilts and smashes.
-Zoning is godlike.
-Can handle any threat.
-At the hands of an experienced player, he's very fast and can combo into pretty much anything.
-Can gimp with boomerangs or stage spike with D-air/B-air.
-Pretty good both at air and ground fighting.
-Recovery got buffed hard, especially if you use bomb recovery (AT with Link)
-Can hit from any side (U-tilt, U smash and down smash hit both sides)

Cons:
-Slightly heavy so U-tilts can be used against him effectively and can be juggled a bit.
-People are stereotyping us as spammers
-YOU'RE NOT PLAYING HIM YET!

Last point was the best hahaha ! Thank you for replying. You guys are the best !! You just made me want to sec Link for sure !

 

[Xephilon]

Glad to see we helped xD Well if you need a training partner, I'd be more than willing to help. I only got a 3DS tho so hopefully that won't be a problem.

 

[A2ZOMG]

Link's biggest weaknesses are his recovery is really predictable, gets juggled easily, and struggles to actually hit any human that's outside his Jab range with anything except Dashgrab which has terrible reward.

That being said he's really fun...just he's only strong in specific situations. I hate that you are literally forced to guess a lot with his risky grab just to get around people who refuse to do risky approaches. At least arrows are one of few projectiles that beat reaction time.

 

[Rizen]

^The only part I agree with is Link does get juggled easily.

 

[A2ZOMG]

^The only part I agree with is Link does get juggled easily.

Why does Fox suck for Link? Even though Fox has some of the worst edgeguards in the game, he exploits everything else I mentioned about Link perfectly, and doesn't let you use arrows. You can do nothing safe outside jab range that he can't just camp or whiff punish on reaction. Where most other characters casually shield in the Link matchup, Fox just out maneuvers you and punishes. Link's reliance on forcing approaches and his lack of any fast midrange options is especially obvious in this matchup.

The Hylian shield buff imo actually outweighs the Jab nerf when you consider how much Link previously got screwed by Fox. It still sucks, but that buff actually let's you move on the ground in neutral and limit his lasers more as punishes.