Zelda's moves change quite significantly depending on her position relative to other players.
I always feel it is best to focus on one player at the beginning. Make SURE you keep an eye on the damage of other players. Learn to sweetspot well, and create set ups. I'll go over a few suggestions later on. Matches or not won by style or who inflicts the most damage/recieves the least. Stealing kills, while irritating to others, is crucial to owning the match.
Spacing
When Zelda is far from other characters, the only move she can do is Din. Her approach is not the strongest, but it's not the worst. Do 2 Dins from a distance if you get the chance. It's likely someone will assume you intend to spam, and charge at you in a senseless rage. Be prepared with a smash attack, or if they're near 40%, a d-tilt lock.
Most of the time, Zelda will want to be mid-range. This gives her a lot of opportunities. Her smash attacks, and forward/up tilts keep her quite protected, since they form barriers between her body and incoming attacks. Hyphen-Smashes (Dash and quickly hit (or charge) c-stick Up). This is a great way to make an entrance and break up a crowd:
If they're at low percentages, try to get a f-air or b-air in.
At mid percentages, try juggling with another U-smash, U-air or just space yourself while you have the time.
At higher percentages, send out a Din their way. Detonate it before they have a chance to land, so as not to leave yourself open to attack.
(These are just suggestions. If you have your own style, that's totally fine.)
Her Fsmash, Dsmash and tilts have little range.
D-smash is good for getting out of a busy situation. Use it to break all the characters, and then home in on the most damaged one.
F-smashes, possibly followed by dash attacks and/or Usmashes are good for safely accumulating damage.
These two are probably some of her fastest attacks. If you see an attack coming from a slower opponent, and you feel like you can't dodge, break their attacks with one of these, or Nayru's Love. Preferably a smash, though.
Set-ups
Zelda is all about getting her opponents where she wants them to be. She has a couple of moves that can help you here.
D-tilt is probably your safest bet. Keep it going, and finish off with a D-smash near an edge. Practice your spikes and get them while they recover.
If you're off the stage, make SURE you know the distance Farore's Wind will take you, and try to strike occupied edge-guarding opponents. This will knock them off the edge, and again set up for a spike. This is easy to block, though, so it is very situational.
The same goes for a Din while recovering from above. It can knock people into the air while keeping Zelda protected, which can then be easily followed by a Usmash, and possibly a lightning kick. I wouldn't recommend this for 4 player matches, but if it comes in handy, then by all means...
Din can be used in the same way from the ground, which is probably a safer bet. Send it out to a falling/recovering enemy, and detonate early. Go in for whichever aerial is best suited if they are open after air-dodging.
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Hmm. Zelda can be played in a lot of different ways. She is very much a situational character. Watch some videos on youtube, or look in the Zelda Archive topic for some good videos and see what to do when. That will probably help the most.
Overall, you'll find the moves you use most are:
Usmash, F-smash, Din's Fire, All aerials except neutral, D-smash, D-tilt, Farore's Wind.
Nayru's Love is a little pointless if you don't need to reflect projectiles.
Her u-tilts and f-tilts are definitely strong, but there is a lot of start up time for which pre-punishing is invited.
Her neutral air can be used well if you fast-fall it. I'm still getting used to it, so others may disagree, but I think it doesn't do a great job protecting Zelda.
Well, that's all I guess. Goodluck. Tell us how it goes.
