Link's Reach and Priority: OP or Balanced?

[TheCometCE]

I've been struggling something fierce against Link players locally as of late (granted, they're damned good players), and the biggest issue I've been having has been with the priority on Link's strikes over my own, as well as his reach.
edit: Also, his tools seem to take priority over the vast majority of my projectiles and tools, especially on Ivysaur.

I'm maining Ivysaur and Mewtwo, with Bowser, Lucario, and Donkey Kong as subs. I'm aware of Ivysaur and Bowser just being tricky matchups against Link, but unsure about the others.

So tell me, is this an issue of being high tier, difficult MUs, or do I need to practice up on my spacing to catch him between attacks?

 

[Hinichii.ez.™]

You main Mewtwo. He is by far the most broke. Just learn the MU.

 

[Soft Serve]

or do I need to practice up on my spacing to catch him between attacks?

This
Bait and punish, abuse his comparatively slower options. Get in, make him afraid to throw boomerangs at close range, then sit close to him and punish him if he jumps away or throws out a move.

 

[Phaiyte]

umm. you have a reflector that actually works really good against everything Link has. Marth and Roy have far better "sword normals" than Link does.

 

[victinivcreate1]

You main Mewtwo. He is by far the most broke. Just learn the MU.

Yet Emukiller lost to that kid Aklo.

Mewtwo is not the sole god of PM. There are 5 others gods, plus a bunch of powerful threats like Mario

 

[Hinichii.ez.™]

Yet Emukiller lost to that kid Aklo.

Mewtwo is not the sole god of PM. There are 5 others gods, plus a bunch of powerful threats like Mario

One link player. wow such amaze

 

[MechWarriorNY]

He's not a problem.
Adapt. M2 wrecks him.

 

[Phaiyte]

One link player. wow such amaze

Mewtwo can't approach with hover nairs with a bomb in Link's hand.

 

[Deleted member]

The only real issue with Link is his ridiculously good boomerang. The rest of his attacks, while vastly improved from past games, can still be dealt with the same way people have always dealt with Link. His sword attacks, arrows, and bombs are nowhere near broken.

 

[Vidiot825]

I'm aklo's brother, another link main at that
Link is a pretty fair character overall
The reasoning behind his projectile wall is that once you get into him it's pretty easy to just not let go (great combo weight and poor out of pressure options)
If I had to name anything about link that could be unfair, and I'm not saying it necessarily is, it would be the multi tether (already getting a nerf) or the instant boomerang rethrow on catch

Regarding emu vs aklo, the first set was super close each match
Surprisingly the bombs actually don't blow up immediately from m2 Nair btw, and the shield reflect mechanic of m2 didn't help the set
Second set was a lot different, but the kid was tired I think (13 and play g for 12 hours)
Emu and aklo are both great players overall

 

[Boiko]

Vidiottttt!!

I agree with Vidiot for the most part. Link has an amazing recovery and a spammable projectile that combos into kills. He has other kill set ups but they require a bit more work and are much balanced.

As far as calling Link OP, I'm on the fence. It may seem that way when he just walls you out completely, but like Vidiot said, he's pretty easy to combo. Oh, and you have to kill him through the blast zone otherwise he won't die.

 

[menotyou135]

His sword priority is fine. The problem is how fast he can abuse projectiles. Start Wavedashing out of shield against him. That is the closest thing to a counter you will ever get to him outside of playing Falco.

 

[JOE!]

outside of playing Falco.

How to beat a BS projectile 101: use an even more BS projectile

 

[Dark-Samus-Lives]

Never heard anyone consider Link OP. I myself absolutely can't deal with Ness, particularly his neutral B but I don't think he's broken...

 

[menotyou135]

Link is only considered not OP because the characters that do well against him are the other broken characters. More than anything it is because you have to be better than your link opponent in order to beat them half the time. He is able to effectively spam projectiles in a way not even mario can do and his projectiles, unlike marios, can be used as his entire neutral game if the link player spaces well. If you get past them, you then run into his fairly good priority attacks.

 

[Vidiot825]

Link is only considered not OP because the characters that do well against him are the other broken characters. More than anything it is because you have to be better than your link opponent in order to beat them half the time. He is able to effectively spam projectiles in a way not even mario can do and his projectiles, unlike marios, can be used as his entire neutral game if the link player spaces well. If you get past them, you then run into his fairly good priority attacks.

Links projectiles are good, that's a fact, but they're not impossible to get past, in fact most aerial attacks tend to destroy the rang
I agree that link does have good match up, but besides the "top 5" that m2k mentioned he also has a hard time against fox, Falco, Mario, shiek, olimar, and perhaps others as well
And the note of Marios Fireballs... So much more spam involved that Mario players shouldn't even be complaining about link's much at all
Also take into account that they're rapid fired at 8 damage a piece and cancel out all other projectiles
Mario doesn't need his projectiles for zoning nearly as much as link, he's a different character, so please keep that in mind