-Aether
Smash Journeyman
Toon Link Guide: By -Aether
Quick Search:
Intro – [q1]
Tilts- [q2]
Smashes – [q3]
Aerials – [q4]
Specials - [q5]
Throws - [q6]
Gameplay Techniques – [q7]
Character Matchups - [q8]
Advanced Gameplay - [q9]
Videos - [q10]
Intro[q1]:
Hello everyone, I've been maining toon link for competitive play because he seems the most intuitive to my play style. I'm a competitive smasher from MD, and I'm a veteran to the smash scene (especially locally, but I travel occasionally). I've been L-canceling since SSB64, and I'm here to keep Brawl going. Oh, and don't let my post count deceive you. I was a professional lurker and made this account because of Brawl's release. Let's get on to the good stuff.
Toon Link as a Character:
Toon Link is really about spacing. Any character with 3 useful projectiles and disjointed hit boxes on EVERY attack (including grabs) is bound to be about spacing. If you played Marth competitively in melee, you understand how important a disjointed hit box is to shield pressure, avoiding punishment, comboing, and just about every aspect of your character in general.
Well, hold the phone. Imagine Marth with SHDL. Now you have T. Link. For the price of a small amount of disjointed hit box (your hit box is still longer than all but 3-4 characters,) you gain a massive amount of projectile goodness.
Do you think T. Link is right for you?
If you:
LOVE abusing spacing
Want to have options both long and short range
Want consistent KO moves, in multiple forms
Want to combo, and not play hit and run
T. Link is probably for you.
If you:
Hate being K.O.ed at low percentages
Want to play a heavy hitter
Prefer more specialized characters
Don't like the “evil Toon Link” costume
you should probably not play Toon Link.
With this being said, I think it's obvious that Toon Link is a light weight, who does low to medium amounts of damage, but has spacing and several useful, easy to land K.O. Moves. If this sounds right for you, continue down the road of this FAQ/Guide.
Terms:
If you don't understand what I'm saying in this FAQ, I suggest you scour smashboards for the info. I cannot deal with explaining what an F-air is or a SH is, for my sanity. With that in mind, some of my language might be ambiguous. Please feel free to ask questions.
MOVESET:
Before you can understand T. Link's play style, you probably should understand his move set. I'll add percentages for all the moves, but I'm not going to include diminishing returns or charged smashes. This data is all easy to obtain and if you're interested in it (I don't see purpose in memorizing it, but if you feel strongly about it, go ahead.) Just keep in mind two basic rules.
1.The first time you use your move, it is exponentially stronger than the second. The difference between your first F-air and second F-air is going to be a good amount. So much, that the increase in damage your opponent received from the first F-air will be canceled out by the knock back reduction almost completely.
2.Spammed moves are a ton easier to combo with. The move you connect with B-air, the better it's going to be when you're trying to SH double B-air. At some point, usually around the 4th or 5th landing of a move, this difference basically becomes negligible.
Neutral A + Tilts - [q2]
Neutral A combo: 3/2/5 %
A lot of times, this attack can be used to get your enemy away from you quickly. It can be done by lowering your shield, or after a spot dodge. I find it best to just finish the combo quickly and get them off you. Not your most used move, but the fastest hitting move you have on the ground.
D-tilt 9 %
The least useful tilt. Link swipes his sword in front of his feet. This does not spike, nor does it really have a lot of range. If ducking underneath an attack, it can be the fastest option you have. It also can extent low past edges, but because of the auto-sweetspot mechanic of brawl, it is unlikely to connect.
F-tilt: 9 %
A solid F-tilt. It's range is exactly what you want out of an F-tilt. It sweeps from 90 degrees to the X-axis, respectively. It has decent knock back, and can KO at really high percentages, but we should hope you don't have to get there. You can use this as a long ranged Neutral A. If you want someone out of your space, but they aren't quite “on top of you,” this is a great option.
U-tilt: 9 %
The best tilt you have, by far. Use it after B-air combos, use it after down throws on certain characters. Nearly every character if caught by this at 0 % will be able to be juggled by one or two more of them. Great low percent move, and puts the enemy in a position you want them. I often will do SH double B-airs to U-tilt. I find it connects much more often than a U-smash, and leads to better options afterwards.
Dash Attack: 10 %
Standard dash attack. Use it to punish rolls. Unlike last game, do not use this to attack through shields. Pivot grabbing means that shield grabbing WILL work behind your enemy. Overall, don't use this move a lot.
Smash Attacks - [q3]
F-smash: 10/13 %
KO move #1. The second swing of this move probably has the highest knock back or any of your moves. How to use this move? Like any other KO move, it's generally slightly slower, so you're going to have to bait your opponent into it. Often, this move will connect because of the double-swing nature of it. Someone will shield or spot dodge the first swing, and be punished by the second swing due to lag time or shield decay. If your spacing is right, the first swing will avoid a shield grab.
D-smash: 6 /11 %
D-smash comes out quickly, and it also hits behind you and in front of you. If you can force a roll, D-smash is great to punish with because it will often clip them as they come out a the roll behind you. It is not the best KO move, but it can at moderate percentages if not spammed previously in the fight.
U-smash: 15 %
KO move #2. This can be done instantly out of a SHIELD and a RUN. That means this smash gives you the most options, and thus is probably the easiest to connect with. It also, unfortunately, means you will be tempted to spam it. Do not be afraid of using this move to add percent to your enemy, but remember if used more than twice in one life, it's unlikely that it's KO potential will remain. I recommend using both methods of U-smash, alternating between lives because stale moves is removed every time you die.
Aerial Attacks –[q4]
Remember, Toon Link's aerial DI is pretty **** good. This means that you can always DI away from your enemy if you whiff an attack and want to avoid being punished. Always exploit your DI as much as possible. This is really an improved aspect of Brawl. Also, as a general rule of thumb, N-air, F-air, and B-air are the least laggy of these aerials, and all can be used in a SH without touching the ground during the move.
N-air: 10/10 %
Marth much? So much better than the “sex kick” that Link has, N-air is a force. It's great to use in a short-hop, and can be spaced fairly easily to avoid shield grabbing. It's knock back is nothing special, but you can use your second jump after a SH to N-air to add combo potential.
F-air: 13 %
KO move #3. This is a fairly quick sweep in front of T. Link. This has pretty strong KO protential around 100-110 damage, and is hard to spam a lot, so I often use it for the first time at high percentages. I pretty much only use this move as a finisher. Often, I will follow people off the stage and try to F-air at lower percentages to sneak in a kill.
B-air: 10 %
Combos. This is your best aerial, and the aerial you're going to use the most often. Learn to RAR, love to RAR. Two of these can be used in a single SH and often, with the correct DI, landed consecutively and followed up by U-tilt or F-tilt. At higher percentages, B-air to second jump to B-air, works. Fool around with this move; I couldn't list the combos I've created with it. Easily creates 3-5 hit combos depending on your enemy and percentage.
U-air: 12 %
The strength of U-air is the length of time that it's hitbox is extended. If you U-air someone above you, and they air dodge, often you can follow their DI and clip them with the end of this move. It can be used to KO off the top, but often it used multiple times so it's knockback is reduced. Useful for harassing people on platforms above you. I want to call this KO move #4, so I guess I will.
D-air: 16 %
D-air rockets you downward. In Brawl, a lot of aspects have been slowed down. This allows a move like D-air to connect much more frequently. Often, it can combo with it's second “bounce,” and the second bounce can be followed up by a U-air against several characters. This is a combo that does massive damage. D-air is also a spike, but I don't recommend using it because a single air dodge can result in your death. Because of the new ledge properties, when you jump from a ledge you can immediately use a move. D-air is a good option here. Also, footstools to D-air work quite well.
Z-air: 4 %
Autocancelable. Use this for spacing, sneak it in once in a while for a free 4 damage. Not a lot of combos are going to come from this move, but it's note worthy because it has ZERO lag when you land it. It's pretty straight forward and will be used less often than other moves, but never forget it exists.
Special Attacks - [q5]
Down-B: 6 %
Use bombs for 100 reasons. Spacing, damage, combos, etc. You name it, a bomb can do it. Use the C-stick to throw it standing or in the air, in any of the 4 directions. Press Z to drop a bomb in the air. More on the bombs in a later section.
Up-B: 10 %, Varying in air
On the ground, this move is rather unimpressive. However, you can do it straight out of a run or shield, so it can be used to punish when other options are limited. If preformed when running, you will slide. DI quickly in either direction to slide further in said direction. This slide can be used to ledge-cancel the move (slide off the edge and hug the ledge.) It also has massive vertical distance (decent horizontal) in the air and auto-sweetspots. In the air, it can be used to finish up combos, and the last hit can be fatal at high percentages. Overall, a pretty solid recovery with some applicable “tricks.”
Over-B: 11 %, less farther away
The boomerang is your last projectile; but do not neglect it because your other projectiles are also good. Use the boomerang to go in directions you otherwise cannot throw/shoot projectiles in. The boomerang is slow moving, but is extremely flexible as to where it can go. Bounces off of the ground, and can be thrown below stages when edgeguarding. The boomerang has a small disrupting effect when it's returning. This is one of the most helpful aspects of it - it catches people off gaurd frequently.
Neutral-B: 4 %
Arrows are most excellent. You can sneak in arrows after a lot of moves, and they are cancelable (like a SHL was in melee, but not as effective.) SHDA is possible, with a canceled second arrow. More on this arrow later.
FINAL SMASH!
Link shoots out a beam of awesome, and then proceeds to tri-force sodomize anyone who comes in contact with him. If you ever get to use this because of a Pity Smash, make sure you land it, so everyone in the room will cream their pants at the sight of it's awesomeness. Kills everything. That is all.
Throws - [q6]
Remember, you throws pretty much suck. Not only does your grab animation blow, you have a single useful grab that really loses it's luster if your opponent is above 25-30 %. Pivot grabbing is useful, and the range does help, but generally only shield grab fairly laggy moves.
The “Smack”: 2 %
Nothing special. Use it at higher percentages for free damage.
U-throw: 7 %
Puts your opponent above you, potentially allowing you to mind game them into aerial combos. Uneventful besides that.
D-throw: 7 %
Can be followed up by U-tilt at low percentages against certain characters. Probably the most useful throw.
F-throw: 7 %
Uneventful. Not a lot of knockback or damage.
B-throw: 7 %
Uneventful. Not a lot of knockback or damage. Are you getting the point..? use D-throw.
Game Play Techniques - [q7]
These are some common things that can be found in almost every T. Link's game. You should always use more techniques than the ones I present. Some parts of this section may seem obvious; some may not. Hopefully, you'll learn one thing to add into your play style.
Recovery:
The bomb jump – If you take out a bomb, wait long enough and time it correctly, you can Up-B, explode on yourself, and Up-B again, effectively doubling your recovery. Highly situational, and difficult to pull of.
Tether Recovery – Low range, but an option you should not forget. Surprise your opponent with a tether recovery mixed into your bag of mind games. Tether recoveries can also be used up to three times to extend your invincibility frames on the ledge. Simply fall away from the ledge and immediately tether again. Effective if you want to stay on the ledge to ledgehog.
Autosweetspotting – Fall below the stage and Up-B towards the ledge. You Up-B will be canceled by the ledge, and you will receive invincibility frames. Safest way to recover the majority of the time.
Arrow Tricks:
Bombpull to canceled arrow – Short hop, down-B, followed by a neutral-B immediately. The arrow will be canceled.
B-air to canceled arrow – Short hop, B-air, followed by a neutral-B immediately. Double tap the C-stick to shoot an arrow in the direction of the B-air.
SHDA (Shorthop-Double arrow) – Short hop, and then VERY quickly use a neutral-B followed by another neutral-B. This is tricky, but is really useful, so learn to do it. If you jump with X/Y, set the button you do not use to special attacks. This allows SHDA's to be done much easier (press both buttons in a single thumb stroke.)
Bomb Tricks:
Catching bombs – If you throw a bomb, and manage to come in contact with it before it explodes, press A to catch it. Yes, this is really useful and you should think about using it.
Bomb canceled D-air - With the correct timing, from almost any height, and at the cost of a little percentage, you can minimize the lag on your D-air by throwing a bomb downward, and then D-airing into the explosion. If timed correctly, you'll have the ability to whiff a D-air and not have to sit around for half an hour while T. Link takes his sword out of the ground. If you hit, generally it's a bomb followed by a D-air so your opponent is hurting.
Z-dropped Bomb - Press Z to let go of a bomb in the air. This was covered previously.
Jump Canceled Bombs - Run in either direction, and then immediately jump (I recommend with the control stick) followed by the C-stick in the opposite direction. What results is a running bomb throw in the opposite direction of the run. Some of the lag is canceled. This also can be done to throw a bomb in the same direction as you were running. It stops the run, but cancels some of the lag. When doing this, you get the speed of a bomb thrown in the air, which is a little slower than one thrown out of a run normally. Much more useful when throwing bombs behind you but the lag can be canceled by the jump either way.
Basic Combos:
I'm not going to tell you any specific combos, but I will say U-tilt, B-air, and N-air are your best combo tools. Spam these moves to keep their knockback low. Never forget that you can B-air twice in a single short hop, and never forget to abuse projectiles to sneak in damage or continue a combo when you otherwise could not.
Spacing:
Every single last one of T. Link's moves is a disjointed hitbox or a projectile. You should almost never get shield grabbed because of this. Remember, projectiles should be used whenever you're at range to piss your opponent off. Messing up someones approach can set the tone for a stock. This can be completely critical, and can seriously hinder the options of your enemies. One serious aspect of spacing is using your aerials at the correct height. You short hop is going to put you in a good position if your aerial before or at the peak of the jump. With N-air, B-air, and F-air, you will not experience landing lag as the attack will finish before you hit the ground. The lower you are to the ground when you start an aerial, the more sure you should be of it's ability to connect when your enemy. Learn to abuse your superior range in all match ups. Beware of the range of Marth, Ike, and Link...yes, they are bigger than you. No, this is not a sexual reference.
Edgegaurding:
Edgegaurding in Brawl is a lot less dynamic because your options are limited and recoveries / DI tend to be very good. Most edgegaurding now requires off stage aerial combat. You have two options when edgegaurding.
1. Jump off the edge of the level, and follow them out into an aerial. This can be done to an extent during combos, but you make a much larger commitment when you're edgegaurding. Both jumps can be used, and you can send T. link out quite far. Your best aerial options are U-air and F-air. Watch for air dodges, predict them, DI correctly, and land an attack.
2. Projectile harass. If a projectile lacks range, feel free to jump out off the stage again. Generally, projectiles are used to harass/position your opponent. If used correctly, projectiles can force your enemy to air dodge a non-lethal attack; then you punish them with an F-air. Projectiles can also make your opponents land on the stage in awkward positions, which leads to increased chances of KO move's landed.
Also, D-air is extremely important on stages where swimming is present. If you D-air into water, your momentum is stopped and you just swim. If you D-air into a swimming person, and they have 40 percent or higher, they DIE. This is a little known fact. You can indeed KO off the bottom of stages like Delfino Plaza and Pirate Ship. D-air is THE best option when your opponent is swimming (and also, crippled because of it..no dodging abilities.) While D-air is normally a really bad spike, because of it's inability to be stopped / controled, on water stages, it's imbalanced and should be exploited.
Always remember not to be suicidal when off the stage. It is a risk/reward situation and judgement should be used. Fancy KOs and 1337 edgegaurding isn't going to matter if you lose a stock every time you try things. Sometimes, simply ledgehogging is going to provide the easiest and best edgegaurding. Never forget that simple things often work.
Character Matchups - [q8]
Metaknight - when you play against Metaknight, you need to use your projectiles. If you cannot control the stage with your projectiles, you will lose the match. Metaknight has powerful combos, great running speed (which makes his tech chasing and grab game pretty strong), and will beat you down at close range. Metaknight has the advantage with speed, recovery, edgegaurding, comboing and punishing. Do not let him close gaps without suffering damage or inferior stage position. Use your only two advantages, projectiles and disjointed hitbox to the best of your abilities. You will be at the disadvantage in this match. Use your Z-air and your boomerang more than normal. This are moves that will keep metaknight away from you effectively. Play this match with the long-term in mind. Keep knicking him with damage until you feel comfortable trying to land a U-smash to kill him. Ban a small stages. Take metaknight to large stages with LOW ceilings. KOing metaknight off the top is the best option you have. Corneria is a great counterpick because it has a LOW ceiling and is large. Easy KOs off the top and room to avoid Metaknight from ****** you.
Pit - Pit has a strong projectile game, but you do too. You, however, are much more effective at medium ranges, so you will need to do some approaching with your projectiles. In close combat, you have the advantage in the air and on the ground, but not by much. Pit has some solid B-moves; watch out for his over-B, which is also a reflector. It, however, does have a lot of ending lag and most good players will use it very rarely. As for edgegaurding, your best bet is to shoot projectiles at him, in an attempt to gimp his Up-B (which cannot be used again, even if you hit him out of it.) B-air combos work well on Pit, because of his pretty decent size and average weight. Pit is a much easier matchup, but I wouldn't describe it as in T. links favor. Small, platform stages are good for this matchup, as the prevent pit from abusing the massive range of his arrows. Battlefield is a great choice, Lylat is decent. Ban final destination. Remember, pit is very similar to you. Pit has solid KO moves, a strong aerial game with disjointed hitboxes, and a strong projectile game. This is a match that's very similar to the T. Link Ditto. You share a lot of the same strengths, and the victor of this match will come from the use of the subtle differences in your characters.
Advanced Game Play - [q9]
Stage counterpicks:
Use basic logic to counter pick characters. Characters who do not have projectiles will have the hardest time approaching you on flat stages. Final destination and Smashville will be solid picks for these characters.
Characters with large disjointed hitboxes will have advantages on platform stages where they can harass you with ground moves through low platforms. Avoid these stages.
Characters who are light are often weaker on low ceiling stages. Toon Link can be at a disadvantage on these stages, especially against characters who KO off the top easily (Fox.)
Larger stages give T. Link a lot of advantages. More room to exploit your projectiles makes enemy approaches harder. High ceilings make T. Link a lot harder to kill, and considering F-smash and F-air are probably your most solid KO options, T. Link suffers less when trying to kill his enemies.
As of now, against the majority of characters, you want to ban stages like Lylat Cruise and Battlefield, and emphasize larger stages like Final Destination and Pokemon Stadium (melee). As the metagame develops, stage counterpicks will become more common knowledge.
A list of stages ceiling heights has been released in the tactical Brawl forum, it is as follows from highest ceiling to lowest (harder to KO to easier):
New Pork City
Jungle Japes
Summit
Green Hill Zone
Luigi's Mansion
Mario Circuit
Shadow Moses
Onett
Pirate Ship
Skyworld
Havenbow
Pictochat
Bridge of Eldin
Pokemon Stadium 2
Battlefield
Final Destination
Delfino Plaza
Norfair
Yoshi's Island
Lylat Cruise
Spear Pillar
Castle Siege
Distant Planet
Smashville
Frigate Orphan
Brinstar
Wario Ware
Halberd
Aero Dive
FlatZone2
Rainbow Ride
Green Greens
Yoshi's Island (Melee)
Corneria
Mushroomy Kingdom
Mind games:
Mind games cannot be taught. Reading something about mind games cannot improve your mind games. Being predictable in smash is the worst thing possible. Do your best to learn ways to avoid being predictable. The only way to really do this is to play; I can say no more on the subject.
Advanced Techniques:
As of right now, the only things remotely technical with Toon Link include RARing and SHDAing. If you do not know what either of these are, or cannot preform either of these techniques, go and figure out how. As technical aspects are discovered, this section will expand.
Edit: A new AT has been found by SamuraiPanda - it's called a Dash Pivot Cancel (DPC.) It's decently useful with T. Link. During the second half of a dash pivot, F-smash in the direction you were originally running. The result will be a slide. More or less, a dash pivot increases your momentum and has IASA frames.
Videos - [q10]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqfrYVa4w24 - Jump Canceled Bomb throw.
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=145097 - MellowD's SHDA.
Videos of me coming ASAP. Need someone with recording device.
Future Updates:
- At some point, I'll add videos of myself owning, and also getting owned. Videos will be coming.
- Character Matchups, when they exist. Right now, they sort of don't.
- Tier list analysis, when one comes out.
- Anything else people suggest.
Final Words:
Brawl is evolving as a game. It is clear, to me and most others, that it will ultimately be a much less technical game. However, we should remember that as the technical aspects decline, the basics become that much more important. Mindgames, spacing, and understanding the games mechanics will result in a victory over the lesser players. Although Brawl may not have a robust technical aspect, a metagame will develop. As for the longevity of Brawl, I can make no comment. Time will show Brawl to be a competetive game or otherwise. Until then, we must learn our characters, play the game as much as we can, and develop mastery of the aspects of SSBB that we know can be refined. I hope this guide has helped you do just that, especially when it comes to controlling and understand T. Link as a character.
Quick Search:
Intro – [q1]
Tilts- [q2]
Smashes – [q3]
Aerials – [q4]
Specials - [q5]
Throws - [q6]
Gameplay Techniques – [q7]
Character Matchups - [q8]
Advanced Gameplay - [q9]
Videos - [q10]
Intro[q1]:
Hello everyone, I've been maining toon link for competitive play because he seems the most intuitive to my play style. I'm a competitive smasher from MD, and I'm a veteran to the smash scene (especially locally, but I travel occasionally). I've been L-canceling since SSB64, and I'm here to keep Brawl going. Oh, and don't let my post count deceive you. I was a professional lurker and made this account because of Brawl's release. Let's get on to the good stuff.
Toon Link as a Character:
Toon Link is really about spacing. Any character with 3 useful projectiles and disjointed hit boxes on EVERY attack (including grabs) is bound to be about spacing. If you played Marth competitively in melee, you understand how important a disjointed hit box is to shield pressure, avoiding punishment, comboing, and just about every aspect of your character in general.
Well, hold the phone. Imagine Marth with SHDL. Now you have T. Link. For the price of a small amount of disjointed hit box (your hit box is still longer than all but 3-4 characters,) you gain a massive amount of projectile goodness.
Do you think T. Link is right for you?
If you:
LOVE abusing spacing
Want to have options both long and short range
Want consistent KO moves, in multiple forms
Want to combo, and not play hit and run
T. Link is probably for you.
If you:
Hate being K.O.ed at low percentages
Want to play a heavy hitter
Prefer more specialized characters
Don't like the “evil Toon Link” costume
you should probably not play Toon Link.
With this being said, I think it's obvious that Toon Link is a light weight, who does low to medium amounts of damage, but has spacing and several useful, easy to land K.O. Moves. If this sounds right for you, continue down the road of this FAQ/Guide.
Terms:
If you don't understand what I'm saying in this FAQ, I suggest you scour smashboards for the info. I cannot deal with explaining what an F-air is or a SH is, for my sanity. With that in mind, some of my language might be ambiguous. Please feel free to ask questions.
MOVESET:
Before you can understand T. Link's play style, you probably should understand his move set. I'll add percentages for all the moves, but I'm not going to include diminishing returns or charged smashes. This data is all easy to obtain and if you're interested in it (I don't see purpose in memorizing it, but if you feel strongly about it, go ahead.) Just keep in mind two basic rules.
1.The first time you use your move, it is exponentially stronger than the second. The difference between your first F-air and second F-air is going to be a good amount. So much, that the increase in damage your opponent received from the first F-air will be canceled out by the knock back reduction almost completely.
2.Spammed moves are a ton easier to combo with. The move you connect with B-air, the better it's going to be when you're trying to SH double B-air. At some point, usually around the 4th or 5th landing of a move, this difference basically becomes negligible.
Neutral A + Tilts - [q2]
Neutral A combo: 3/2/5 %
A lot of times, this attack can be used to get your enemy away from you quickly. It can be done by lowering your shield, or after a spot dodge. I find it best to just finish the combo quickly and get them off you. Not your most used move, but the fastest hitting move you have on the ground.
D-tilt 9 %
The least useful tilt. Link swipes his sword in front of his feet. This does not spike, nor does it really have a lot of range. If ducking underneath an attack, it can be the fastest option you have. It also can extent low past edges, but because of the auto-sweetspot mechanic of brawl, it is unlikely to connect.
F-tilt: 9 %
A solid F-tilt. It's range is exactly what you want out of an F-tilt. It sweeps from 90 degrees to the X-axis, respectively. It has decent knock back, and can KO at really high percentages, but we should hope you don't have to get there. You can use this as a long ranged Neutral A. If you want someone out of your space, but they aren't quite “on top of you,” this is a great option.
U-tilt: 9 %
The best tilt you have, by far. Use it after B-air combos, use it after down throws on certain characters. Nearly every character if caught by this at 0 % will be able to be juggled by one or two more of them. Great low percent move, and puts the enemy in a position you want them. I often will do SH double B-airs to U-tilt. I find it connects much more often than a U-smash, and leads to better options afterwards.
Dash Attack: 10 %
Standard dash attack. Use it to punish rolls. Unlike last game, do not use this to attack through shields. Pivot grabbing means that shield grabbing WILL work behind your enemy. Overall, don't use this move a lot.
Smash Attacks - [q3]
F-smash: 10/13 %
KO move #1. The second swing of this move probably has the highest knock back or any of your moves. How to use this move? Like any other KO move, it's generally slightly slower, so you're going to have to bait your opponent into it. Often, this move will connect because of the double-swing nature of it. Someone will shield or spot dodge the first swing, and be punished by the second swing due to lag time or shield decay. If your spacing is right, the first swing will avoid a shield grab.
D-smash: 6 /11 %
D-smash comes out quickly, and it also hits behind you and in front of you. If you can force a roll, D-smash is great to punish with because it will often clip them as they come out a the roll behind you. It is not the best KO move, but it can at moderate percentages if not spammed previously in the fight.
U-smash: 15 %
KO move #2. This can be done instantly out of a SHIELD and a RUN. That means this smash gives you the most options, and thus is probably the easiest to connect with. It also, unfortunately, means you will be tempted to spam it. Do not be afraid of using this move to add percent to your enemy, but remember if used more than twice in one life, it's unlikely that it's KO potential will remain. I recommend using both methods of U-smash, alternating between lives because stale moves is removed every time you die.
Aerial Attacks –[q4]
Remember, Toon Link's aerial DI is pretty **** good. This means that you can always DI away from your enemy if you whiff an attack and want to avoid being punished. Always exploit your DI as much as possible. This is really an improved aspect of Brawl. Also, as a general rule of thumb, N-air, F-air, and B-air are the least laggy of these aerials, and all can be used in a SH without touching the ground during the move.
N-air: 10/10 %
Marth much? So much better than the “sex kick” that Link has, N-air is a force. It's great to use in a short-hop, and can be spaced fairly easily to avoid shield grabbing. It's knock back is nothing special, but you can use your second jump after a SH to N-air to add combo potential.
F-air: 13 %
KO move #3. This is a fairly quick sweep in front of T. Link. This has pretty strong KO protential around 100-110 damage, and is hard to spam a lot, so I often use it for the first time at high percentages. I pretty much only use this move as a finisher. Often, I will follow people off the stage and try to F-air at lower percentages to sneak in a kill.
B-air: 10 %
Combos. This is your best aerial, and the aerial you're going to use the most often. Learn to RAR, love to RAR. Two of these can be used in a single SH and often, with the correct DI, landed consecutively and followed up by U-tilt or F-tilt. At higher percentages, B-air to second jump to B-air, works. Fool around with this move; I couldn't list the combos I've created with it. Easily creates 3-5 hit combos depending on your enemy and percentage.
U-air: 12 %
The strength of U-air is the length of time that it's hitbox is extended. If you U-air someone above you, and they air dodge, often you can follow their DI and clip them with the end of this move. It can be used to KO off the top, but often it used multiple times so it's knockback is reduced. Useful for harassing people on platforms above you. I want to call this KO move #4, so I guess I will.
D-air: 16 %
D-air rockets you downward. In Brawl, a lot of aspects have been slowed down. This allows a move like D-air to connect much more frequently. Often, it can combo with it's second “bounce,” and the second bounce can be followed up by a U-air against several characters. This is a combo that does massive damage. D-air is also a spike, but I don't recommend using it because a single air dodge can result in your death. Because of the new ledge properties, when you jump from a ledge you can immediately use a move. D-air is a good option here. Also, footstools to D-air work quite well.
Z-air: 4 %
Autocancelable. Use this for spacing, sneak it in once in a while for a free 4 damage. Not a lot of combos are going to come from this move, but it's note worthy because it has ZERO lag when you land it. It's pretty straight forward and will be used less often than other moves, but never forget it exists.
Special Attacks - [q5]
Down-B: 6 %
Use bombs for 100 reasons. Spacing, damage, combos, etc. You name it, a bomb can do it. Use the C-stick to throw it standing or in the air, in any of the 4 directions. Press Z to drop a bomb in the air. More on the bombs in a later section.
Up-B: 10 %, Varying in air
On the ground, this move is rather unimpressive. However, you can do it straight out of a run or shield, so it can be used to punish when other options are limited. If preformed when running, you will slide. DI quickly in either direction to slide further in said direction. This slide can be used to ledge-cancel the move (slide off the edge and hug the ledge.) It also has massive vertical distance (decent horizontal) in the air and auto-sweetspots. In the air, it can be used to finish up combos, and the last hit can be fatal at high percentages. Overall, a pretty solid recovery with some applicable “tricks.”
Over-B: 11 %, less farther away
The boomerang is your last projectile; but do not neglect it because your other projectiles are also good. Use the boomerang to go in directions you otherwise cannot throw/shoot projectiles in. The boomerang is slow moving, but is extremely flexible as to where it can go. Bounces off of the ground, and can be thrown below stages when edgeguarding. The boomerang has a small disrupting effect when it's returning. This is one of the most helpful aspects of it - it catches people off gaurd frequently.
Neutral-B: 4 %
Arrows are most excellent. You can sneak in arrows after a lot of moves, and they are cancelable (like a SHL was in melee, but not as effective.) SHDA is possible, with a canceled second arrow. More on this arrow later.
FINAL SMASH!
Link shoots out a beam of awesome, and then proceeds to tri-force sodomize anyone who comes in contact with him. If you ever get to use this because of a Pity Smash, make sure you land it, so everyone in the room will cream their pants at the sight of it's awesomeness. Kills everything. That is all.
Throws - [q6]
Remember, you throws pretty much suck. Not only does your grab animation blow, you have a single useful grab that really loses it's luster if your opponent is above 25-30 %. Pivot grabbing is useful, and the range does help, but generally only shield grab fairly laggy moves.
The “Smack”: 2 %
Nothing special. Use it at higher percentages for free damage.
U-throw: 7 %
Puts your opponent above you, potentially allowing you to mind game them into aerial combos. Uneventful besides that.
D-throw: 7 %
Can be followed up by U-tilt at low percentages against certain characters. Probably the most useful throw.
F-throw: 7 %
Uneventful. Not a lot of knockback or damage.
B-throw: 7 %
Uneventful. Not a lot of knockback or damage. Are you getting the point..? use D-throw.
Game Play Techniques - [q7]
These are some common things that can be found in almost every T. Link's game. You should always use more techniques than the ones I present. Some parts of this section may seem obvious; some may not. Hopefully, you'll learn one thing to add into your play style.
Recovery:
The bomb jump – If you take out a bomb, wait long enough and time it correctly, you can Up-B, explode on yourself, and Up-B again, effectively doubling your recovery. Highly situational, and difficult to pull of.
Tether Recovery – Low range, but an option you should not forget. Surprise your opponent with a tether recovery mixed into your bag of mind games. Tether recoveries can also be used up to three times to extend your invincibility frames on the ledge. Simply fall away from the ledge and immediately tether again. Effective if you want to stay on the ledge to ledgehog.
Autosweetspotting – Fall below the stage and Up-B towards the ledge. You Up-B will be canceled by the ledge, and you will receive invincibility frames. Safest way to recover the majority of the time.
Arrow Tricks:
Bombpull to canceled arrow – Short hop, down-B, followed by a neutral-B immediately. The arrow will be canceled.
B-air to canceled arrow – Short hop, B-air, followed by a neutral-B immediately. Double tap the C-stick to shoot an arrow in the direction of the B-air.
SHDA (Shorthop-Double arrow) – Short hop, and then VERY quickly use a neutral-B followed by another neutral-B. This is tricky, but is really useful, so learn to do it. If you jump with X/Y, set the button you do not use to special attacks. This allows SHDA's to be done much easier (press both buttons in a single thumb stroke.)
Bomb Tricks:
Catching bombs – If you throw a bomb, and manage to come in contact with it before it explodes, press A to catch it. Yes, this is really useful and you should think about using it.
Bomb canceled D-air - With the correct timing, from almost any height, and at the cost of a little percentage, you can minimize the lag on your D-air by throwing a bomb downward, and then D-airing into the explosion. If timed correctly, you'll have the ability to whiff a D-air and not have to sit around for half an hour while T. Link takes his sword out of the ground. If you hit, generally it's a bomb followed by a D-air so your opponent is hurting.
Z-dropped Bomb - Press Z to let go of a bomb in the air. This was covered previously.
Jump Canceled Bombs - Run in either direction, and then immediately jump (I recommend with the control stick) followed by the C-stick in the opposite direction. What results is a running bomb throw in the opposite direction of the run. Some of the lag is canceled. This also can be done to throw a bomb in the same direction as you were running. It stops the run, but cancels some of the lag. When doing this, you get the speed of a bomb thrown in the air, which is a little slower than one thrown out of a run normally. Much more useful when throwing bombs behind you but the lag can be canceled by the jump either way.
Basic Combos:
I'm not going to tell you any specific combos, but I will say U-tilt, B-air, and N-air are your best combo tools. Spam these moves to keep their knockback low. Never forget that you can B-air twice in a single short hop, and never forget to abuse projectiles to sneak in damage or continue a combo when you otherwise could not.
Spacing:
Every single last one of T. Link's moves is a disjointed hitbox or a projectile. You should almost never get shield grabbed because of this. Remember, projectiles should be used whenever you're at range to piss your opponent off. Messing up someones approach can set the tone for a stock. This can be completely critical, and can seriously hinder the options of your enemies. One serious aspect of spacing is using your aerials at the correct height. You short hop is going to put you in a good position if your aerial before or at the peak of the jump. With N-air, B-air, and F-air, you will not experience landing lag as the attack will finish before you hit the ground. The lower you are to the ground when you start an aerial, the more sure you should be of it's ability to connect when your enemy. Learn to abuse your superior range in all match ups. Beware of the range of Marth, Ike, and Link...yes, they are bigger than you. No, this is not a sexual reference.
Edgegaurding:
Edgegaurding in Brawl is a lot less dynamic because your options are limited and recoveries / DI tend to be very good. Most edgegaurding now requires off stage aerial combat. You have two options when edgegaurding.
1. Jump off the edge of the level, and follow them out into an aerial. This can be done to an extent during combos, but you make a much larger commitment when you're edgegaurding. Both jumps can be used, and you can send T. link out quite far. Your best aerial options are U-air and F-air. Watch for air dodges, predict them, DI correctly, and land an attack.
2. Projectile harass. If a projectile lacks range, feel free to jump out off the stage again. Generally, projectiles are used to harass/position your opponent. If used correctly, projectiles can force your enemy to air dodge a non-lethal attack; then you punish them with an F-air. Projectiles can also make your opponents land on the stage in awkward positions, which leads to increased chances of KO move's landed.
Also, D-air is extremely important on stages where swimming is present. If you D-air into water, your momentum is stopped and you just swim. If you D-air into a swimming person, and they have 40 percent or higher, they DIE. This is a little known fact. You can indeed KO off the bottom of stages like Delfino Plaza and Pirate Ship. D-air is THE best option when your opponent is swimming (and also, crippled because of it..no dodging abilities.) While D-air is normally a really bad spike, because of it's inability to be stopped / controled, on water stages, it's imbalanced and should be exploited.
Always remember not to be suicidal when off the stage. It is a risk/reward situation and judgement should be used. Fancy KOs and 1337 edgegaurding isn't going to matter if you lose a stock every time you try things. Sometimes, simply ledgehogging is going to provide the easiest and best edgegaurding. Never forget that simple things often work.
Character Matchups - [q8]
Metaknight - when you play against Metaknight, you need to use your projectiles. If you cannot control the stage with your projectiles, you will lose the match. Metaknight has powerful combos, great running speed (which makes his tech chasing and grab game pretty strong), and will beat you down at close range. Metaknight has the advantage with speed, recovery, edgegaurding, comboing and punishing. Do not let him close gaps without suffering damage or inferior stage position. Use your only two advantages, projectiles and disjointed hitbox to the best of your abilities. You will be at the disadvantage in this match. Use your Z-air and your boomerang more than normal. This are moves that will keep metaknight away from you effectively. Play this match with the long-term in mind. Keep knicking him with damage until you feel comfortable trying to land a U-smash to kill him. Ban a small stages. Take metaknight to large stages with LOW ceilings. KOing metaknight off the top is the best option you have. Corneria is a great counterpick because it has a LOW ceiling and is large. Easy KOs off the top and room to avoid Metaknight from ****** you.
Pit - Pit has a strong projectile game, but you do too. You, however, are much more effective at medium ranges, so you will need to do some approaching with your projectiles. In close combat, you have the advantage in the air and on the ground, but not by much. Pit has some solid B-moves; watch out for his over-B, which is also a reflector. It, however, does have a lot of ending lag and most good players will use it very rarely. As for edgegaurding, your best bet is to shoot projectiles at him, in an attempt to gimp his Up-B (which cannot be used again, even if you hit him out of it.) B-air combos work well on Pit, because of his pretty decent size and average weight. Pit is a much easier matchup, but I wouldn't describe it as in T. links favor. Small, platform stages are good for this matchup, as the prevent pit from abusing the massive range of his arrows. Battlefield is a great choice, Lylat is decent. Ban final destination. Remember, pit is very similar to you. Pit has solid KO moves, a strong aerial game with disjointed hitboxes, and a strong projectile game. This is a match that's very similar to the T. Link Ditto. You share a lot of the same strengths, and the victor of this match will come from the use of the subtle differences in your characters.
Advanced Game Play - [q9]
Stage counterpicks:
Use basic logic to counter pick characters. Characters who do not have projectiles will have the hardest time approaching you on flat stages. Final destination and Smashville will be solid picks for these characters.
Characters with large disjointed hitboxes will have advantages on platform stages where they can harass you with ground moves through low platforms. Avoid these stages.
Characters who are light are often weaker on low ceiling stages. Toon Link can be at a disadvantage on these stages, especially against characters who KO off the top easily (Fox.)
Larger stages give T. Link a lot of advantages. More room to exploit your projectiles makes enemy approaches harder. High ceilings make T. Link a lot harder to kill, and considering F-smash and F-air are probably your most solid KO options, T. Link suffers less when trying to kill his enemies.
As of now, against the majority of characters, you want to ban stages like Lylat Cruise and Battlefield, and emphasize larger stages like Final Destination and Pokemon Stadium (melee). As the metagame develops, stage counterpicks will become more common knowledge.
A list of stages ceiling heights has been released in the tactical Brawl forum, it is as follows from highest ceiling to lowest (harder to KO to easier):
New Pork City
Jungle Japes
Summit
Green Hill Zone
Luigi's Mansion
Mario Circuit
Shadow Moses
Onett
Pirate Ship
Skyworld
Havenbow
Pictochat
Bridge of Eldin
Pokemon Stadium 2
Battlefield
Final Destination
Delfino Plaza
Norfair
Yoshi's Island
Lylat Cruise
Spear Pillar
Castle Siege
Distant Planet
Smashville
Frigate Orphan
Brinstar
Wario Ware
Halberd
Aero Dive
FlatZone2
Rainbow Ride
Green Greens
Yoshi's Island (Melee)
Corneria
Mushroomy Kingdom
Mind games:
Mind games cannot be taught. Reading something about mind games cannot improve your mind games. Being predictable in smash is the worst thing possible. Do your best to learn ways to avoid being predictable. The only way to really do this is to play; I can say no more on the subject.
Advanced Techniques:
As of right now, the only things remotely technical with Toon Link include RARing and SHDAing. If you do not know what either of these are, or cannot preform either of these techniques, go and figure out how. As technical aspects are discovered, this section will expand.
Edit: A new AT has been found by SamuraiPanda - it's called a Dash Pivot Cancel (DPC.) It's decently useful with T. Link. During the second half of a dash pivot, F-smash in the direction you were originally running. The result will be a slide. More or less, a dash pivot increases your momentum and has IASA frames.
Videos - [q10]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqfrYVa4w24 - Jump Canceled Bomb throw.
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=145097 - MellowD's SHDA.
Videos of me coming ASAP. Need someone with recording device.
Future Updates:
- At some point, I'll add videos of myself owning, and also getting owned. Videos will be coming.
- Character Matchups, when they exist. Right now, they sort of don't.
- Tier list analysis, when one comes out.
- Anything else people suggest.
Final Words:
Brawl is evolving as a game. It is clear, to me and most others, that it will ultimately be a much less technical game. However, we should remember that as the technical aspects decline, the basics become that much more important. Mindgames, spacing, and understanding the games mechanics will result in a victory over the lesser players. Although Brawl may not have a robust technical aspect, a metagame will develop. As for the longevity of Brawl, I can make no comment. Time will show Brawl to be a competetive game or otherwise. Until then, we must learn our characters, play the game as much as we can, and develop mastery of the aspects of SSBB that we know can be refined. I hope this guide has helped you do just that, especially when it comes to controlling and understand T. Link as a character.
