Guide Link Guide: Advanced Tips and Tricks

[LouLouXz]

LouLouXz submitted a new guide:

Link Guide: Advanced Tips and Tricks - Series of useful tricks that Link can perform in Smash 4 to improve his gameplay

Hey Guys,
This is a guy I just made that gathers many useful tips and tricks that Link can utilize on Smash 4. Check it out and let me know if you enjoyed! Any sort of feedback would be much appreciated! And obviously, if you leave a like and subscribe you would make me a very happy Link Main. Thanks for watching and hope you enjoy!

-LouLouXz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L55RJPR1hrA&t=185s

Read more about this guide...

 

[Stryker95]

0:27 In before he Monkey flips over the arrow and kicks you in the face.

1:00 I’d be more careful how you word this. Most of our specials lock you in a momentum, you can’t change during them. So maybe say B-reversing changes your positioning.

1:25 Missed a comma (no biggie).

3:02 Wheo mentioned that too. I have no idea why people say this. Timing this would be very hard and unrealistic in a match, having a bomb explosion occur shortly after the opportunity to use a laggy move. If your laggy move hits, then you bombed yourself for no reason. If it misses they can punish you off the bomb just as we do. I don’t find it all that helpful, but hey, I’m just a labber.

3:47 I didn’t know this was a thing. Nice.

4:02 *arrowlock. I’m picky. So sue me.

4:41 Fox can jump out of all UThrow combos. I’m not saying not to use it, and I know you didn’t say it was true, but people who could use this guide for help may not realize that. (You do mention jump read but they may not know that jump escapes UThrow combos and think you prefer an UAir off a read than a “true” UTilt.)

4:58 UAir AC frames 1-10. (Being picky again)

Overall, nice editing! Good to have people out there who can actually make nice videos.


Now to wait for Foxy to come along and chastise me for missing something…

Edit: I worded something better.

Edit #2: From Foxy (Paraphrased. And I told you so.)

You timed stamped your video to 3:05.

Dash Attack does not have a tipper. It has 3 hitboxes, 12% on the hilt, 13% in the middle, 14% at the tip. A "tipper" occurs when the hitbox on the tip is used as all other hitboxes did not connect, like our FSmash 1. With our DA, however, the 14% hitbox takes priority, so even if all three hitboxes connected it would still go with the 14% one.

2:21- The bomb is not a hitbox. (I should have known this, my bad.) It is a hurtbox that generates a hitbox, big difference.

Direct quote (because it's short):
3:00 'replace' would be a much more fitting word than 'cancel'

3:23- picky, but it's implying that you're invulnerable while in shield

if I wanted to be extra picky I'd say that invulnerable and invincible are not synonymous.

they refer to different things

4:37- should've tried to do a turn around Jab

End quoting.

 

[Catana]

zair1 combos are garbage and will never work on a decent opponent

0:27 what stryker said. when writing a guide dont ever say "go for this option if ... doesnt work", because we're gonna assume our opponents have brains too here and therefore its important you include all possible mixups in the given situation.

1:00 link does not have a poor recovery. wavebounce arrows are also not good for offstage recovery... you're leaving yourself completely open, and even if it does succeed you'll have to recover in a very predictable angle making it easier for your opponent to gimp you.

1:40 charging the downsmash i see what you did there. was that even di'd?

2:02 we tech those

2:15 implying that without a bomb you cant land properly so you always gotta have a bomb in hand for landing? those were indeed some horrible landings, but there are many mixups that you can apply here besides just z dropping. again, more options need to be provided, this is all way too specific and focussed on 1 particular tech to be called a guide.

3:02 indeed extremely situational but can be legit.

3:25 this is legit too but if you have to shield for it then you're too late and already lost the purpose of it. needs to be during iframes. doing this while holding shield is useful in its own situations but not recovery

4:02 people who use the word "jablock" when locking with moves other than jab trigger me

4:50 fox can jump in any direction to completely avoid it. stryker already covered most of this but this whole uthrow thing is once again too specific for a "guide"

5:19 assuming the situation you tried to create here is after getting hit, you finally provided multiple options in one but then theres another issue. airdodge is technically bad because of the lag it has, yes, but if your opponent is going for an instant followup, it could be the only thing getting you out of that followup. teching has mixups on its own, so if you're smart you wont be predictable with it. nair is a pretty good option but can be shieldgrabbed. fair is also an option. autocancelling is definitely not the best option lol as it leaves you entirely open all the way and provides a big oppertunity for your opponent to keep their momentum going. in a real match, the best option is always the option that your opponent wont expect you to take. implying that you should use one bad or good option in a given situation will make you extremely predictable and easy to punish, no matter what you go for. what even about just jumping away, why isnt that included?

6:05 doing extremely ****ty things on ******* isnt even styling thing tbh lol

i probably wouldnt have gone this tryhard if this wasnt called a "guide" (but maybe though), and i still held back, too..

 

[LouLouXz]

0:27 In before he Monkey flips over the arrow and kicks you in the face.

1:00 I’d be more careful how you word this. Most of our specials lock you in a momentum, you can’t change during them. So maybe say B-reversing changes your positioning.
But doesn't a b-reverse change the direction of your momentum? say you're airbound towards the right, if you B-reverse you will be airbound towards the left? I feel like turnaround does not change your momentum, simply where you face. B reverse switches both where you face and your momentum. And wavebounce doesn't change where you face but changes your momentum. At least that makes sense in my mind and i'm truly sorry if it doesn't appear so to my viewers!

1:25 Missed a comma (no biggie).
Sorry, english is my third language. I'll definitely throw my text in Microsoft word next time!

3:02 Wheo mentioned that too. I have no idea why people say this. Timing this would be very hard and unrealistic in a match, having a bomb explosion occur shortly after the opportunity to use a laggy move. If your laggy move hits, then you bombed yourself for no reason. If it misses they can punish you off the bomb just as we do. I don’t find it all that helpful, but hey, I’m just a labber.
Take that bowser clip at 3:13. say you wan't to mixup your recovery, so you hold down during the UP-B so Link doesn't snap the ledge. In that clip, if the bomb wasn't there, i believe that bowser would have enough time to run over and grab,dash attack, heck even Bowsercide. Again, this is just a trick, not a good option in neutral. Good to know tho.

3:47 I didn’t know this was a thing. Nice.

4:02 *arrowlock. I’m picky. So sue me.
yep, my bad. I use jablock because many people ask me what a reset is. somehow the less experienced players only know jablock. This is not an excuse tho, as this is most definitely not a jablock. Bad habit from my part!

4:41 Fox can jump out of all UThrow combos. I’m not saying not to use it, and I know you didn’t say it was true, but people who could use this guide for help may not realize that. (You do mention jump read but they may not know that jump escapes UThrow combos and think you prefer an UAir off a read than a “true” UTilt.)
he sure can. Don't take my word for it when i say the names, but i believe it was a scissor/larry lurr or a game like that. The link kept using the uthrow fairly consistenly and actually landed follow ups on the fox. maybe the fox wasn't ready for it. Again, just a little trick to know. At least you don't get naired or shieldgeabbed lol


4:58 UAir AC frames 1-10. (Being picky again)
You're entirely right. Didn't double check, i actually thought i knew those by heart after all the labbing haha. 1frame is a big deal in this game. Maybe not in this particular situation

Overall, nice editing! Good to have people out there who can actually make nice videos.
Thank you i appreciate the thorough critics, that truly helps me make better content.


Now to wait for Foxy to come along and chastise me for missing something…

Edit: I worded something better.

Edit #2: From Foxy (Paraphrased. And I told you so.)

You timed stamped your video to 3:05.
Oops. Don't know how i did that. Maybe the link of the video. My bad

Dash Attack does not have a tipper. It has 3 hitboxes, 12% on the hilt, 13% in the middle, 14% at the tip. A "tipper" occurs when the hitbox on the tip is used as all other hitboxes did not connect, like our FSmash 1. With our DA, however, the 14% hitbox takes priority, so even if all three hitboxes connected it would still go with the 14% one.
That's interesting! that explains why it's so easy to land the stongest hitbox. Commentators in high level play keep saying "tipper" so i just assumed i could call it like that. Shame on me lol

2:21- The bomb is not a hitbox. (I should have known this, my bad.) It is a hurtbox that generates a hitbox, big difference.
Mmh. Didn't know what a hurtbox was until now, but after looking it up, that makes sense. That explains why the bomb doesn't blow up (hitbox) unless an opponent enters in contact with it.

Direct quote (because it's short):
3:00 'replace' would be a much more fitting word than 'cancel'
Indeed. Mind checking my next vid BEFORE i upload it? :D

3:23- picky, but it's implying that you're invulnerable while in shield

if I wanted to be extra picky I'd say that invulnerable and invincible are not synonymous.

they refer to different things

I actually saw a video that explains the difference. can't remember where tho, sth like beefysmashdoods

4:37- should've tried to do a turn around Jab
Can't, i was recording that with one controller in each hand. No friends to record my video implies limited quality of examples

End quoting.

 

[LouLouXz]

zair1 combos are garbage and will never work on a decent opponent
Garbage isn't a very good way to put it, imo. just EXTREMELY situational. I used it recently. Imagine me as link against an opponent around 120%. Both of us were falling, no DJ's left. I'm slightly above him and we're close from landing back on the stage. Due to my playsyle, where i ff F-air a lot, i believe he got scared and airdodged. I was scared that i wouldn't have enough time to land and connect a kill move so i confirmed a Zair1 Dsmash. A true combo into a smash attack isn't garbage. I'll give you that it is extremely rare and situational.

0:27 what stryker said. when writing a guide dont ever say "go for this option if ... doesnt work", because we're gonna assume our opponents have brains too here and therefore its important you include all possible mixups in the given situation.
By doesn't work i meant that up-B after 2 Bairs very rarely connects, and good links should recognize when it will or not by looking at the space between him and the opponent. If not, the opponent can easily punish you. However it takes much more mobility from your opponent to punish you if you create space with a B-reverse. That might be the trick i use the most in the competitive scene and it works wonders. And you would be surprised how many times that arrow either hits or forces an airdodge

1:00 link does not have a poor recovery. wavebounce arrows are also not good for offstage recovery... you're leaving yourself completely open, and even if it does succeed you'll have to recover in a very predictable angle making it easier for your opponent to gimp you.
Link's recovery isn't very good. Extremely linear. you're basically dead if you're forced to recover low against any good edgeguarding character (zelda, falcon, yoshi (i only mention those because i play locally with EXTREMELY good player of those characters how make sure i double think before recovering low) because of how predicable it is. And up-B "flies slowly" if that makes any sense, leaving the time for your opponent to D-air you. Unlike marth for example

1:40 charging the downsmash i see what you did there. was that even di'd?
Nope. It was a CPU. No friends to record my footage. Was just to prove my point that it forces players to recover low.

2:02 we tech those

2:15 implying that without a bomb you cant land properly so you always gotta have a bomb in hand for landing? those were indeed some horrible landings, but there are many mixups that you can apply here besides just z dropping. again, more options need to be provided, this is all way too specific and focussed on 1 particular tech to be called a guide.
Is it the word guide that causes that many problems? Because the keywords of my video are really tips and tricks. Smash4 is all about mixups. A good friend of mine, by far the best smash4 player i've ever played against, mains Pit. and sometimes that is the only option left i have to cover my landings. A good trick to know, most definitely not the default landing recommended to get back to neutral.

3:02 indeed extremely situational but can be legit.

3:25 this is legit too but if you have to shield for it then you're too late and already lost the purpose of it. needs to be during iframes. doing this while holding shield is useful in its own situations but not recovery

4:02 people who use the word "jablock" when locking with moves other than jab trigger me
Sorry for triggering you. That is indeed nowhere near a jablock. As i said above, people tend to use "jablock" as one size fits all. And i'm one of those lazy people:/

4:50 fox can jump in any direction to completely avoid it. stryker already covered most of this but this whole uthrow thing is once again too specific for a "guide".
Again, just tips and tricks. And even if you won't connect anything, if you land a 0% grab on center stage, it is arguably the optimal throw.

5:19 assuming the situation you tried to create here is after getting hit, you finally provided multiple options in one but then theres another issue. airdodge is technically bad because of the lag it has, yes, but if your opponent is going for an instant followup, it could be the only thing getting you out of that followup. teching has mixups on its own, so if you're smart you wont be predictable with it. nair is a pretty good option but can be shieldgrabbed. fair is also an option. autocancelling is definitely not the best option lol as it leaves you entirely open all the way and provides a big oppertunity for your opponent to keep their momentum going. in a real match, the best option is always the option that your opponent wont expect you to take. implying that you should use one bad or good option in a given situation will make you extremely predictable and easy to punish, no matter what you go for. what even about just jumping away, why isnt that included?
In this case, i used a bomb explosion just to represent the situation in which you only have very little time to act before hitting the ground. Good examples of this would be Falcon's fthrow, a good ftilt, zelda's jab at 100%, etc. Any move that sends you low but where you can still act before landing. You see top level players use ZSS/falcon up-air (for ex.) a lot to avoid tech situations and to be able to act (usually shield, spot dodge) before getting punished.

6:05 doing extremely ****ty things on ******* isnt even styling thing tbh lol
So you're saying that my cool little strings were ****ty? ( obviously the downtilt is to create a failed tech. It's not actually part of the string.

i probably wouldnt have gone this tryhard if this wasnt called a "guide" (but maybe though), and i still held back, too..
So what if i put tutorial next time?
I appreciate the constructive criticism, but don't forget that all i'm trying to do is help the community get better at the game. I spend quite of bit of time making these guides and make no money out of it. I don't get offended by your comments at all, i truly appreciated them. But please understand that 1. It's hard to make guides on your own without a player helping you out (or spending countless hours getting the footage on FG/online matchups) 2. Especially from a "tips and tricks" video, don't expect too many consistent viable options. You should see it more as a "good to know!" kind of info.

 

[Stryker95]

But doesn't a b-reverse change the direction of your momentum? say you're airbound towards the right, if you B-reverse you will be airbound towards the left? I feel like turnaround does not change your momentum, simply where you face. B reverse switches both where you face and your momentum. And wavebounce doesn't change where you face but changes your momentum. At least that makes sense in my mind and i'm truly sorry if it doesn't appear so to my viewers!

It doesn't change momentum, but the direction of that momentum, so your airspeed stays the same, but the direction that airspeed is going changes. Get it?

Sorry, english is my third language. I'll definitely throw my text in Microsoft word next time!

Well, in that case, you did a pretty good job. I can't expect you to have perfect English if it is your third language.

Take that bowser clip at 3:13. say you wan't to mixup your recovery, so you hold down during the UP-B so Link doesn't snap the ledge. In that clip, if the bomb wasn't there, i believe that bowser would have enough time to run over and grab,dash attack, heck even Bowsercide. Again, this is just a trick, not a good option in neutral. Good to know tho.

I just meant on the ground and in the neutral, I can see its potential in recovery. And Cat explained to me some rare cases where it can be helpful on the ground and in neutral, and he's one of the best Links in the world so I guess there are some uses.

yep, my bad. I use jablock because many people ask me what a reset is. somehow the less experienced players only know jablock. This is not an excuse tho, as this is most definitely not a jablock. Bad habit from my part!

Eh, it's a common misconception. You can educate the people a little bit at a time.

he sure can. Don't take my word for it when i say the names, but i believe it was a scissor/larry lurr or a game like that. The link kept using the uthrow fairly consistenly and actually landed follow ups on the fox. maybe the fox wasn't ready for it. Again, just a little trick to know. At least you don't get naired or shieldgeabbed lol

Yeah, I wouldn't say don't use it, but the Links you're teaching ought to know it isn't guaranteed, so using FThrow or BThrow for situational purposes or DThrow to a read may be just as good.

That's interesting! that explains why it's so easy to land the stongest hitbox. Commentators in high level play keep saying "tipper" so i just assumed i could call it like that. Shame on me lol

Yeah, most commentators (and Link mains) don't know much about the intricacies of Link.

Indeed. Mind checking my next vid BEFORE i upload it? :D

I would be happy to look it over before you upload it if that's what you want, no problem at all. Foxy may be willing to look it over as well, depending on how busy he is.

I actually saw a video that explains the difference. can't remember where tho, sth like beefysmashdoods

You can find them (and many others) in the Smash Dictionary here.

Can't, i was recording that with one controller in each hand. No friends to record my video implies limited quality of examples

For my videos I use 2 and 3 frame skipping (see here) and then edit out the pauses so I can get frame perfect inputs for both characters. It takes longer and is tedious and makes the videos less smooth, but I suck at making videos anyway so as long as the information is presented, I don't care that much.

Take care.