Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Zelda (SSBU): Difference between revisions

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|ssbgame3 = SSB4
|ssbgame3 = SSB4
|availability = [[Unlockable character|Unlockable]]
|availability = [[Unlockable character|Unlockable]]
|tier = D+
|tier = D-
|ranking = 75
|ranking = 73
}}
}}
'''Zelda''' ({{ja|ゼルダ|Zeruda}}, ''Zelda'') is a playable character in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''. She was confirmed as a playable character along with {{SSBU|Sheik}} and the rest of veterans on June 12, 2018. Unlike the game's predecessors, she is [[Unlockable character|unlockable]] instead of being available from the [[Starter character|start]]. Zelda is classified as [[Fighter number|Fighter #17]].
'''Zelda''' ({{ja|ゼルダ|Zeruda}}, ''Zelda'') is a playable character in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''. She was confirmed as a playable character along with {{SSBU|Sheik}} and the rest of veterans on June 12, 2018. Unlike the game's predecessors, she is [[Unlockable character|unlockable]] instead of being available from the [[Starter character|start]]. Zelda is classified as [[Fighter number|Fighter #17]].
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In a similar vein to her fellow ''Zelda'' fighters {{SSBU|Link}} and {{SSBU|Ganondorf}}, Zelda is now voiced by {{s|wikipedia|Ayumi Fujimura}}, who reprises her role from ''{{s|zeldawiki|The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds}}'' in all regions, replacing Jun Mizusawa from ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'', ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'', and ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''. Similar to {{uv|Star Fox}} characters in ''Melee'', the former provides a single line of spoken Japanese dialogue in [[World of Light]]'s opening; this line is dubbed in English by Brandy Kopp, who also voices {{SSBU|Palutena}}.
In a similar vein to her fellow ''Zelda'' fighters {{SSBU|Link}} and {{SSBU|Ganondorf}}, Zelda is now voiced by {{s|wikipedia|Ayumi Fujimura}}, who reprises her role from ''{{s|zeldawiki|The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds}}'' in all regions, replacing Jun Mizusawa from ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'', ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'', and ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''. Similar to {{uv|Star Fox}} characters in ''Melee'', the former provides a single line of spoken Japanese dialogue in [[World of Light]]'s opening; this line is dubbed in English by Brandy Kopp, who also voices {{SSBU|Palutena}}.


Zelda is ranked 75th out of 82 on the current [[tier list]], placing her in the D+ tier. This is a slight improvement from her 52th/53rd out 54 placement in ''SSB4'' where she was tied with {{SSB4|Ganondorf}}, and is her best placement in the series.
Zelda is ranked 73rd out of 82 on the current [[tier list]], placing her in the D- tier. This is a slight improvement from her 52nd/53rd out of 54 placement in ''SSB4'' where she was tied with {{SSB4|Ganondorf}}, and is her best placement in the series. She has a strong zoning tool in [[Phantom Slash]], which is a very versatile move that can also start or finish combos, force approaches and apply pressure by controlling space, namely in ledge trapping. Zelda uses magic in her attacks, giving her solid disjointed range in general. She has an abundance of KO options, with power comparable to or exceeding that of heavyweights, despite being a lightweight; furthermore, she possesses the largest array of moves with [[transcendent priority]], so her strongest attacks tend to create favorable trades if not outright beating out the opponent due to their priority. Several of them come out surprisingly fast for how powerful they are, and are effective out-of-shield options, most notoriously her [[Lightning Kick]] and [[Farore's Wind]], the latter of which is also one of the best recovery moves in the game. She also has an outstanding array of throws, being able to combo with down throw until high percents and having two strong kill throws in her up and back throws.
 
Despite these strengths, Zelda has some notable weaknesses. Her mobility is abysmal; she has a low run speed, falling speed and gravity, and a laggy initial dash, leaving her with committal jumps, a poor approach and [[neutral game]]. Being tall makes her easier to hit, and being floaty with poor landing options makes her especially vulnerable to juggling; this gives her one of the worst disadvantage states in the game and only exacerbates her status as a lightweight. Despite having several powerful finishers, most of them are inconsistent, having very precise sweetspots that are notoriously difficult to land given her poor approach and mobility, weak sourspots that can even be punishable on hit, and/or high ending lag. She lacks moves that are safe on shield, most notably her aerials; the few moves that are safe require specific spacing or timing, which are difficult given her poor mobility. The range on several of her attacks is poor, limiting their utility. Almost all her normals are transcendent, which is a double-edged sword that gives her poor defense against projectiles and larger disjoints, since she cannot clank with them and easily loses to them. She also has a limited number of moves and rather small windows to confirm into other moves, forcing her to often rack up damage and secure KOs through Phantom setups or stray hits. She lacks fast, low-committal projectiles, making her susceptible to being outcamped; in general, all her special moves have high lag and can be punished hard if not used carefully.
 
Overall, Zelda plays a decent zoning game and a strong trapping game, with tools for ledge trapping and controlling space, but her precise hitboxes, inconsistency and poor mobility gives her a weak neutral and disadvantage state, making her a glass cannon with a focus on precision. Zelda is rarely seen in tournaments, but there have been dedicated players, such as {{Sm|Yn}} from Japan, {{Sm|Naskino}} in France, and {{Sm|Ven}} in the United States, with respectable results.


==How to unlock==
==How to unlock==
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==Attributes==
==Attributes==
Zelda is a tall, floaty [[weight|lightweight]] character with overall slow mobility. While she has a slightly above-average [[air speed]], the 20th highest [[traction]], and a decent [[initial dash]], her jumping force and [[air acceleration]] are below average, and she has the 22nd slowest [[walk|walking speed]], the 16th slowest [[falling speed]], the 10th lowest [[gravity]], and is tied with {{SSBU|Byleth}} for the 9th slowest [[run|running speed]] in the game. Zelda's attacks are based on magic, making most of them [[disjoint]]ed or otherwise long-range attacks. They also boast generally quick startup; all of her attacks activate before frame 10, except for [[forward tilt]], [[up aerial]], [[down aerial]], and [[forward smash]]. Despite her lightweight status, most of her attacks have [[KO]] potential and impressive damage output, giving her power comparable to heavyweights. Due to these factors, Zelda can be generalized as a zoner glass cannon.
Zelda is a tall, floaty [[weight|lightweight]] character (weighing the same as [[Sora]]) with very poor mobility. While she has an above-average [[air speed]], [[initial dash]] and [[traction]], her jumps and [[air acceleration]] are below average, and she has the 22nd slowest [[walk|walking speed]], the 16th slowest [[falling speed]], the 10th lowest [[gravity]], and is tied with {{SSBU|Byleth}} for the 9th slowest [[run|running speed]] in the game. Zelda's attacks are mostly based on magic, making most of them [[disjoint]]ed albeit short-ranged attacks. They also boast generally quick startup; all her normal attacks activate before frame 10, except for [[forward tilt]], [[up aerial]], [[down aerial]], and [[forward smash]]. Despite her low weight, most of her attacks have immense [[KO]] potential and damage output, giving her power comparable to that of heavyweights. Due to these factors, Zelda can be generalized as a zoner glass cannon.
 
Zelda's ground game is notably safer than her aerial game due to generally being less committal and more consistent. She has decent close-quarters combat, namely in her [[down tilt]], a short-ranged low-profiling poke, and [[up tilt]], a large all-around anti-air; both are quick to execute combo-starters with long-lasting hitboxes. They often work in tandem with [[dash attack]], which is her most important burst and punish option with excellent speed and large hitboxes. More situational is her [[neutral attack]], which is her fastest move at frame 4; it can transition into a [[rapid jab]] for simple damage, or sometimes combo at high percents on its own, but is short-ranged, inconsistent at comboing and unsafe on shield. [[Forward tilt]] is the biggest outlier, being much slower with narrow hitboxes, but having a strong low-priority tipper; it can be used to space (especially on shield) at a longer range.
 
Though known for her broad power, Zelda's smash attacks are one of the few areas where she falls relatively average to below-average in strength, although they are all still respectable finishers. Her [[forward smash]] has a good horizontal disjoint with multiple hits; it is a decent option for catching ledge getups, and due to its rather low ending lag it can be hard to punish on shield, especially if spaced and/or charged. [[Up smash]] is similarly a powerful multi-hit; though laggier and having poor horizontal range, it has a fast startup (frame 9) that can punish poorly spaced moves on shield, and has a very long duration of 23 active frames, making it effective for catching getups and landings. [[Down smash]] is a simple leg sweep with average power, being one of her few non-magic attacks, but compensates by being very fast at frame 5 and executing relatively quickly; hitting on both sides, the foot sweetspots [[semi spike]] at a nasty launch angle that can set up edgeguards.
 
Zelda possesses among the most powerful set of [[aerial]]s in the game; uniquely, a majority of them are highly polarized with high-risk and high-reward and limited usage in neutral, forcing her to play carefully in the air. Her forward and back aerials, known as her Lightning Kicks, are by far most polarized moves. Both have fast startup at frame 6 with an incredibly strong sweetspot at her toe, making them effective punishes and deadly out of shield options. However, the sweetspot is tiny and only active for one frame. Additionally, they have notable landing lag, ending lag and cannot auto-cancel in a short hop. Furthermore, the sourspots are pitifully weak, even being punishable on hit at most percents. This makes them very risky with poor utility in neutral. Down air is a similar move with a powerful single-frame sweetspot on her foot and very weak sourspots. Although slow to come out and weaker than her Lightning Kicks, the sweetspot meteor smashes and is much larger, and the sourspots linger for longer and always spike opponents downward, making them useful for gimping opponents. The clean hit has great utility in punishes, as hitting it on grounded opponents will can start a combo at nearly any percent for massive damage or a KO confirm.
 
[[Up aerial]] is Zelda's only truly consistent aerial, as it consists of a single large hitbox with consistently high knockback. A vertically disjointed explosion with excellent power, it has relatively low landing lag. While not very risky when falling, it has significant startup and ending lag and only covers the range above her, limiting its usage. [[Neutral aerial]] stands out as her only aerial to not have outstanding power or a notable sweetspot. Instead, as a multi-hit with many active frames hitting on both sides, it serves as her least committal, most versatile aerial. It can auto-cancel in a short hop, which with good execution can convert into an up tilt or dash attack at lower percents; it can also combo into a dash attack when fast-falled, and a single hit can pop grounded opponents up into a variety of confirms at virtually any percent, making it a versatile combo starter. Despite being her most important all-around aerial, it lacks an autolink angle, instead having a rather convoluted set of six hitboxes; their knockback and launch angles cause the move to be inconsistent and the launch direction to be difficult to control.  


Her [[neutral attack]] is a small burst of magical energy in front of her, boasting decent range and good damage output before transitioning into a [[rapid jab]] of many magical bursts with a finishing hit. Forward tilt is a strong arm swipe with good range and little ending vulnerability, with the additional ability to be angled. [[Up tilt]] is a vertical, long-lasting, circular arm sweep, useful as an anti-air and [[combo]] tool across most percentages of damage. [[Down tilt]] is a quick crouching kick that lasts surprisingly long and is good for many combo setups and 2-framing opponents. Her [[dash attack]] is a dual hand thrust with a burst of magic most powerful closest to her hands. It’s best used throughout combos to gain distance. Her [[forward smash|forward]] and [[up smash|up]] smashes are both powerful, multi-hitting bursts of magic energy; the former being a thrust of the hand forward and the latter being a wave of the hand back and forth above her. [[Down smash]] is a very fast 360° leg sweep that launches opponents at a [[semi spike]] angle with decent knockback.
Overall, Zelda's aerials on their own can be awkward for spacing, air-to-air combat, and starting combos, instead functioning more strongly in conjunction with and as follow-ups to other moves. One of the moves that most boosts the potency of her aerials is her down special, [[Phantom Slash]], which is also her most important tool. It's a unique projectile with a hurtbox and HP that she builds piece-by-piece, with its properties becoming increasingly strong by the charge, and she can have it attack before it is complete. The earliest stages are limited to zoning and body-blocking projectiles, but by the final stage, it has outstanding HP, speed, power and range. After just over a second, Zelda will be able to move freely, while the Phantom will attack automatically after about another second if it is not manually released, granting Zelda much flexibility during this window. She can attack in tandem with it in ledge traps and to mitigate the vulnerability of laggy moves; other usages include playing mind games with manual releases, punishing shielding opponents with grabs or shield break combos, and covering her own recovery and ledge getups. It is quite good at comboing into other moves or being a combo finisher itself, due to Zelda's moves having high hitlag. Phantom Slash forms the basis of Zelda's kit and is designed to compensate for Zelda's lackluster neutral, allowing her to gain stage control, cover options, pressure, zone and trap because of how much space it covers, how much damage it deals, and how many different mixups Zelda can do with it. However, Phantom's main weakness is that it cannot be charge-canceled, requiring Zelda to commit to either an early release or to wait until she is actionable. In addition, if she enters hitstun at any point before releasing the Phantom, it falls apart.


Zelda has some of the strongest [[aerial]]s in the game kill power wise. Zelda can auto-cancel both her [[neutral aerial|neutral]] and [[down aerial|down]] aerials in a short hop, and [[forward aerial|forward]] and [[back aerial]] auto-cancel from a fast fall. Though her neutral air lacks notable KO ability, it pairs a long active duration with generously-sized hitboxes and decent damage. This, combined with its aforementioned early autocancel window, makes her neutral air her most versatile aerial, used for extending combos (and sometimes starting them), setting up edgeguards, pressuring shields, anti-airing, and edge-guarding. Unfortunately, opponents will occasionally fall out of her neutral aerial, making it an inconsistent tool.  
Outside Phantom Slash, the rest of her [[special move]]s take inspiration from the spells of the three Golden Goddesses that Link can use in Ocarina of Time. Her neutral special, [[Nayru's Love]], is a [[reflection|reflector]] that doubles as a melee attack; it has a long duration and horizontal range on both sides of her, with full intangibility from frames 4-13 of the move, allowing it to beat out moves, disrupt strings, two-frame and edgeguard. However, the multi-hits can be inconsistent, and it is laggy, making it highly punishable. [[Din's Fire]], her side special, is a slow ball of fire that becomes stronger and faster the farther it travels. While the explosion has a powerful sweetspot, its slow startup and predictable trajectory make it easy to avoid in most cases, and quite punishable if used in neutral. Instead, it is mostly used to gimp opponents with low resources. Her up special, [[Farore's Wind]], is an outstanding offensive teleport, allowing her to recover in almost any off-stage situation. It is difficult to edgeguard and to two-frame due to its intangibility, omnidirectional distance and large, strong hitboxes. Like {{SSBU|Palutena}}'s [[Warp]], she can avoid the move's ending lag by [[edge cancel]]ing, which grants her access to otherwise impossible movement options. It is also a fast, useful out of shield option, as the first hit can also be used on its own out of shield, or to further combo into the powerful reappearance hitbox. It can work as a burst option to punish laggy options or anti-zone from a distance, but due to its high ending lag, this option is usually very risky. While having unique uses in their own rights, her specials can be strategically be used with each other for creative setups and KOs.


Her forward and back aerials are known as Lightning Kicks. Both of these aerials possess a very small but powerful sweetspot at her foot, dealing 24% with high knockback. The sweetspot is only active for the first frame, with the late hit or "sourspot" dealing 4% with minimal knockback. Both kicks boast an extremely fast startup at frame 6, but have very punishable ending lag, making them high risk/high reward aerials. Their fast startup and powerful knockback means they excel as well spaced landing aerials, as well as deadly out of shield options. Their short active frame for the sweetspot and punishable ending lag/sourspot means they are very risky when used as rising aerials, as missing or hitting opponents with the sourspot will almost always mean Zelda will get punished. Up air is a large, disjointed explosion with excellent damage and knockback, however with significant startup. Down air, sometimes nicknamed the "Lightning Stomp", is a meteor smash with a powerful sweetspot on her foot, similar to her Lightning Kicks. However, unlike her Lightning kicks, this sweetspot is much larger, making it much easier to connect despite it short active window. Also unlike the lightning kicks, its sourspot has great utility, having large and lingering hitboxes that always spike opponents downwards. It is amongst the most powerful meteor smashes in the game, and one of Zelda's most useful aerials. Besides being one of the best meteor smashes in the game, it also has great utility in platform chases and is a great punish tool as hitting it on grounded opponents will allow Zelda to combo it to her other powerful aerials. Overall, her aerials are all high risk, high reward moves with polarizing strengths.
Zelda has good range for her [[grab]], with her pivot grab being one of the most disjointed in the game. While having notably slow startup, they have great reward in her [[throws]]. [[Forward throw]] is good at setting up edge guarding and ledge traps, while [[back throw|back]] and [[up throw]] are excellent kill throws and among the strongest of their kind. [[Down throw]] is most useful as a combo starter, and can reliably combo into neutral aerial, forward aerial or back aerial from low to mid percents. All her throws can lead into a set up Phantom with proper timing for high-damage combos or KO confirms, though forward and down throw are the most practical.


Her [[special move]]s take inspiration from various Zelda titles. Her neutral special move, [[Nayru's Love]], is a [[reflection|reflector]] that doubles as a melee attack; Zelda also is intangible from frames 4-13 of the move. These traits make it useful against [[projectile]] users as well as evading/halting opponent’s combos. [[Din's Fire]], her side special move, sends out an explosive ball of fire that explodes on the release of the button or when reaching max charge, becoming more powerful and flying further the longer it is charged. It possesses a powerful sweetspot in the inner part of the explosion, with an otherwise large explosion hitbox. The ball of fire does not count as a projectile, but the explosion can be absorbed. In addition, for the first time in the series, Zelda can use it to cover her recovery, as it no longer leaves her helpless in midair. Her up special move, [[Farore's Wind]], is a great KO option, possessing very fast startup and elevator combos from the first hit on the ground to its very powerful second hit in the air. This, combined with it being a omnidirectional teleport recovery that travels a very respectable distance, renders it a very potent recovery move and perhaps one of the most versatile in the game. As a teleport recovery, it's difficult to edgeguard against by default due to its intangibility between exit and reentry. On top of this, it can have anti-ledgetrap and mindgame potential if one opts to use the aforementioned powerful second hitbox instead of snapping to ledge. And, much like {{SSBU|Palutena}}'s [[Warp]], she can completely avoid the move's ending lag by using a technique called [[edge cancel]]ling, which grants her access to otherwise-impossible approach and stage control options. Lastly, her down special, [[Phantom Slash]], is perhaps her most versatile tool. It's a unique projectile that she builds piece-by-piece until it is fully formed, though she can use it at any stage of its creation by pressing either the special or attack button, which affects several of its properties. The earliest stages have rather low damage, knockback, and range, but it becomes increasingly more potent as it becomes more complete, with the final stage having high damage output, impressive knockback, and stellar range. It takes a little over a second to reach the final stage, after which Zelda will be able to move and attack freely in an untethered sort of state. The Phantom will attack on its own after about another second if it is not triggered, granting Zelda a lot of flexibility when using it, such as retreating behind it for protection, attacking in tandem with it, launching the opponent towards it, performing shield breaking combos, making grab setups, and even covering her recovery (similar to Din's Fire).
Despite her strengths, Zelda has significant weaknesses. Chief among them is her poor mobility, which hampers her ability to approach and move around safely. Her initial dash, for instance, is tied for the second laggiest in the game at 15 frames, which makes her unable to shield and rather vulnerable whenever she wants to move faster than walking. This mobility issue is exacerbated through numerous frame data issues, as many of her attacks, while quick to start up, have punishing amounts of end lag and precise hitboxes, making her approach telegraphed; her floatiness makes her air-to-ground transition poor and exacerbates the downsides of her already awkward aerials. Since she is tall and floaty, with no safe landing mixups or options to help her from ledge, she is very vulnerable to getting juggled and ledge trapped, contributing to one of the worst disadvantages in the game and compounding the endurance issues from her light weight. Other issues include poor range on her normals, limiting their utility, and extremely weak sourspots that can be punished on hit. Her combo game is average to subpar, as many of her moves have too much lag or unfavorable launch angles and knockback values for reliable follow-ups or wide combo windows. Due to this, she partially relies on Phantom to land stray KOs or start or finish combos for damage-racking. Some of her moves also have consistency issues, namely neutral aerial, Nayru's Love and some of the initial windboxes of Phantom Slash.


Zelda has outstanding range and reward for her [[grab]], with her pivot grab being one of the most disjointed in the game. Her grab however, has extremely slow startup. Her [[throws]] have great reward. [[Forward throw]] is good to setup edge guarding, while [[back throw|back]] and [[up throw]] are excellent kill throws. [[Down throw]] is most useful as a combo starter, and can combo into neutral aerial, forward and back aerial, up aerial, as well as stall long enough for a set up Phantom to hit.
Finally, her special moves have exploitable weaknesses, as they are all committal and have varying degrees of punishable lag. With correct timing and spacing around the Phantom's possible attack ranges, opponents can punish Zelda by reading when she will use the move and preemptively closing in. If there is space, the opponent can also retreat to disengage, with Zelda not being able to do much about it except gaining some stage control. Especially against mobile characters, this forces her to play a neutral with her risky, short ranged neutral tools and subpar mobility.


Despite her toolkit's versatility and potency, Zelda has noticeable flaws. Chief among them is arguably her poor mobility—especially on the ground—which hampers her ability to approach effectively against those who outspeed her. As a result of this, she flounders against quick, fast-falling opponents like {{SSBU|Wolf}} and {{SSBU|Zero Suit Samus}}. This mobility issue is exacerbated through numerous frame data issues, as many of her attacks, while quick to startup, have punishing amounts of end lag. Since she is light, tall, and floaty, she is also vulnerable to juggling and can be KO'd earlier than a good part of the roster. Her very poor disadvantage state makes her vulnerable to momentum changes as well. While rage improves her excellent KO potential even further, her mediocre endurance doesn't allow her to take advantage of it as much as heavier characters. This riskiness is especially apparent in her KO options; though they're incredibly potent, they struggle with unreliable or weak sourspots (in dash attack and Lighting Kicks), punishable ending lag (in up smash, up aerial, and forward smash to an extent) or a combination of the two (in Din's Fire and Farore's Wind). Along with this, some parts of her moveset struggle with landing reliably. Her neutral aerial's multihits, though improved through patches, still sometimes struggle to connect with each other, and her neutral attack and forward tilt's hitboxes are placed high and narrow, respectively, so they sometimes have trouble hitting short or crouching fighters. Finally, her special moves have a couple of minor downsides; Nayru's Love has noticeable ending lag, making it punishable if overused, and if Zelda gets hit before sending the Phantom with Phantom Slash, it will fall apart and she will have to reuse the move.
Among favorable matchups, Zelda excels against slower characters with poor ground and aerial approaches where Phantom Slash can effectively wall them out (Ice Climbers), against large characters that become easy targets for her normally difficult-to-land sweetspots (King K. Rool), especially those without safe options on shield, enabling easy punishes with her deadly out of shield options (King Dedede), and against poor recoveries that are legitimately threatened by Din's Fire and Phantom (Ganondorf). Zelda's weaknesses cause her to struggle against quick opponents who can bait out her options, exploit her poor movement and keep her in disadvantage (Fox, Greninja, Zero Suit Samus), against characters that can outcamp her with projectiles that are fast and/or dwarf the Phantom's range (R.O.B., Young Link, Min Min), against characters with large disjoints who can beat out her transcendent moves (Cloud, Aegis), and against characters with better boxing options than her (Shotos).


Overall, Zelda has an excellent advantage state and can easily KO opponents thanks to a variety of strong attacks and KO setups, but she has to be careful with how she spaces her attacks, how she approaches, and what she does to get out of a disadvantage.
Overall, Zelda's strengths include fast and powerful out of shield options, good stage control and ledge trapping with Phantom setups, and impressive kill power spread broadly across her moveset. Her weaknesses in mobility, range, frame data, consistency and sweetspot issues require her to be precise with how she spaces her attacks and to make the most out of Phantom ledge traps with proper reads and option coverage. She must be creative in her approaches to overcome her mobility issues when she does not have a lead, and in mixing up what she does to get out of disadvantage due to her floaty nature and lack of safe landing options.


==Changes from ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''==
==Changes from ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''==
Zelda had historically and consistently been regarded as one of the worst characters (and, at one point in ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', the overall worst) in previous games, due to her combination of underwhelming frame data as a whole, a lackluster special moveset, bad hitbox placements, and an undesirable mix of attributes: being slow, light, tall, and floaty. While ''SSB4'' had brought updates to her offensive game, her weaknesses remained, causing her to nevertheless remain unviable. Likely as a result of being a poorly regarded character in previous games, Zelda has been significantly buffed overall in the transition to ''Ultimate'', especially comparing to the game's initial release.
Zelda had historically and consistently been regarded as one of the worst characters (and, at one point in ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', the overall worst) in previous games, due to her combination of underwhelming frame data as a whole, a lackluster special moveset, bad hitbox placements, and an undesirable mix of attributes (slow, light, tall, and floaty). While ''SSB4'' had brought updates to her offensive game, her weaknesses remained, causing her to remain unviable. Likely as a result of being a poorly regarded character in previous games, Zelda has been significantly buffed overall in the transition to ''Ultimate''.


One of Zelda's biggest buffs is her greatly improved moveset: many of her moves have either reduced lag, better KO potential, or other improvements. Her [[neutral attack]], previously the slowest in the game, comes out significantly faster, and has been reworked to possess an infinite portion with better damage racking ability and knockback. Her [[forward tilt]] has more range, less ending lag, and increased damage that improve the sweetspot's KO potential, though it does have 2 more frames of startup and smaller hitboxes with the sweetspots outprioritized by sourspots and the latter have less KO potential. [[Forward smash]] now uses an improved autolink angle, allowing it to connect reliably at both close range and when spaced. [[Neutral aerial]] has decreased landing lag, allowing it to start combos into multiple ground options, including down tilt into forward aerial. [[Up aerial]]'s hitbox is larger, has been moved upwards and its duration has been extended; while the placement makes it difficult to hit grounded opponents, this increases its already solid large vertical range and makes it more difficult to spot dodge, while also giving it a new late hit that deals 12% with less knockback. Her already good grab game was improved to the point it is now among the most useful in the game: her [[back throw|back]] and [[up throw]]s are much stronger, while down throw deals more damage and, although its knockback and angle were altered, its combo ability remains mostly intact. Additionally she has the longest range for a non-tether grab of any character in the game. Her Lightning Kicks have been improved as well, having a larger sweetspot and the forward kick is now active as fast as the back kick, increasing their potency for followups when landing with them, and making them more devastating [[out of shield]]. This allows Zelda to secure KOs more easily, and down throw in particular possessing more reliable KO setups, as it can now combo into back aerial at mid percentages.
One of Zelda's biggest buffs is her improved moveset: many of her moves have either reduced lag, better KO potential, or other improvements. Most notably, her aerials have significantly reduced landing lag across the board, making them much more usable. The sweetspots of her kicks are significantly easier to land, and their improved auto-cancel window make them less risky to use; forward aerial's faster startup also makes it a much better out of shield option. Examples of significantly stronger moves include [[forward tilt]], whose increased damage makes the sweetspot safe on shield and one of the strongest of its kind, and [[up aerial]] which is larger and stronger with a new late hit. Her already good grab game was improved to the point it is now among the most useful in the game; her [[back throw|back]] and [[up throw]]s are much stronger, giving her two new viable kill throws among the strongest of their kind.


Zelda's special moveset, considered among the most situational in previous games, has seen various improvements. [[Nayru's Love]] has faster startup and [[intangibility]], and preserves Zelda's momentum, strengthening its already strong defensive ability and improving its edgeguarding applications. [[Din's Fire]] no longer causes [[helplessness]], giving it utility as an anti-edgeguarding option, has increased duration of effect and the sweetspot is larger and easier to land, making it more difficult to spot dodge and more effective in neutral or advantage state. [[Farore's Wind]] has faster startup, making it a more effective out of shield option, and more precise angles for reappearance, allowing her to land its second hit easier even if the enemy DIs the first hit, making "elevator" combos much more consistent. Most importantly, however, [[Phantom Slash]] has been heavily reworked to possess several more stages that can be unleashed faster, and the last stage allows Zelda to move around before it is unleashed, allowing for intricate trap setups and combos when edgeguarding and approaching, while the Phantom no longer has any cooldown if destroyed. Since the Phantom is formed behind Zelda, it is now better used in her advantage state, though with sufficient spacing it is also a strong tool in the [[neutral game]]. It's damage and KO potential have also been improved post-release. With precise input, Zelda can also short hop behind the Phantom while charging it, allowing it to block incoming projectiles while charging.
Zelda's special moveset, considered among the most situational in previous games, has seen various improvements. [[Din's Fire]] no longer causes [[helplessness]], has an increased duration and has a larger sweetspot, making it more usable, albeit still situational. [[Farore's Wind]] has faster startup and execution and reduced vulnerability, making it a more effective out of shield and punish option; it has more precise angles for reappearance to follow opponent DI, making the "elevator" combo more likely to connect, while also being less unsafe if it doesn't. [[Phantom Slash]] is, however, her greatest buffed special and arguably her greatest buff from Smash 4 out of any of her moves. It has less lag and been heavily reworked to possess several more stages that cover a wider variety of ranges, improving its zoning usage, and the last stage allows Zelda to move around before it is unleashed, allowing for intricate trap setups and combos. The Phantom also no longer has any cooldown if destroyed, allowing it to be used much more frequently.


Additionally, Zelda noticeably benefits from some of the universal changes. Despite still having below-average mobility relative to the rest of the cast, the universal 3-frame [[jumpsquat]]s and reduced landing lag improve her the most, as they greatly supplement her neutral game, previously one of her main weaknesses. This allows her to approach more reliably with her powerful Lightning Kicks, and improves her combo potential, giving her more consistent and durable followups from moves such as [[up tilt]], neutral aerial, up throw, and down throw, which can dish out large amounts of damage. The changes to [[air dodging]] also generally benefit her, as they improve her edgeguarding game with moves like Din's Fire, and also give her an emergency recovery option.
Additionally, Zelda noticeably benefits from some of the universal changes. Her horizontal movement has been improved (both absolutely and relative to the cast) in her increased run speed, air speed, air acceleration and initial dash. The universal 3-frame [[jumpsquat]]s and reduced landing lag improve her noticeably, as they greatly supplement her neutral game, previously one of her main weaknesses. This allows her to approach more reliably and slightly improves her combo potential from fast falled aerials—most notably down aerial, which, due to the removal of teching grounded spikes, gives Zelda a plethora of new combos and kill confirms from the move. The changes to [[air dodging]] also benefit her, as they improve her edgeguarding game with moves like Din's Fire, which also improves her ledge trapping game by forcing low recoveries and allowing time for a Phantom set up.


However, Zelda has received some mixed changes and a few nerfs as well. Despite the improved speed and combo potential of her neutral attack, it is no longer a nearly unpunishable option against shields, and none of her other attacks has had their ending lag reduced enough to fully compensate. Down tilt has less ending lag, but has less range and its new angle worsens its combo potential in general, removing its ability to combo into up aerial, although it can now combo better into neutral aerial and dash attack and has a new KO setup into forward aerial. The changes to down aerial's hitboxes increase the clean hit's range and remove the blindspot located in Zelda's lower leg, but causes the late hit to have smaller hitboxes. Zelda's dash and pivot [[grab]]s, already below-average in speed, have received even more startup, although her pivot grab has very large range for a non-tether grab and both of them have less ending lag. Both [[forward throw]] and Farore's Wind are weaker, most significantly the former, now only being usable for setting up edgeguards in a similar vein to {{SSBU|Ness}}' own forward throw, though Farore's Wind is more consistent for self-combos due to faster startup and more precise DI options for reappearance that can hit opponents who DI the initial hit.
However, Zelda has received some mixed changes and nerfs as well, most notably to the combo game of her normals. Neutral attack is drastically smaller and is no longer safe on shield nor has consistent combo potential, removing one of her best neutral and spacing tools. Down tilt is much smaller and has a considerably worse launch angle, hindering its combo ability past mid percents. Neutral aerial especially has been nerfed greatly, with the autolink removal and lower knockback harming the looping hits' consistency, completely removing their drag-down combos and making the launch direction drastically more difficult to control. Down throw's increase in knockback scaling, combined with its more horizontal launch angle removes its 50/50s at high percents.


Lastly, while Zelda does benefit from some the changes to the game's engine, other changes have impaired her as well; the universal increase in mobility doesn't benefit her as much due to her slow grounded movement, since it still doesn't allow her to catch up with most of the cast. The increased [[shieldstun]] both helps and hinders Zelda, as it allows her moves to be more safely spaced, but combined with the universal reductions to landing lag (despite aerials having less shieldstun), it also slightly worsens her respectable out of shield game. Finally, of note is that Zelda keeps some of her weaknesses from previous games, mainly her slow movement speed, light weight, a few poor hitbox placements (such as extremely weak sourspots on her Lightning Kicks, which are otherwise her strongest KO moves). However, the nerfs she has received are not as meaningful as her buffs.
Other nerfs include her forward tilt, which is much more precise due to its slower startup and narrow hitboxes, and due to the sweetspot losing highest priority and being drastically harder to land, the move is arguably weaker on average despite the damage buffs. Down aerial's late hit is worse at gimping due to its smaller hitboxes. Zelda's dash and pivot [[grab]]s, already below-average in speed, have received even more startup, although her pivot grab has very large range for a non-tether grab and both of them have less ending lag. Farore's Wind is weaker, making the sweetspot especially worse at early KOs, cannot travel as far and is much harder to edge cancel with, hindering one of her movement options.


Overall, Zelda's moveset has been considerably enhanced from previous installments, making her strengths much more defined, and allowing her to play defensive much more reliably. Her perception in the competitive metagame has been more positive than in previous games, albeit rather inconsistent: Initially, Zelda was seen as a mid-tier character thanks to decent results from smashers such as {{sm|ven}} despite retaining some of her weaknesses from previous games. However, Zelda's overall tournament representation had at the time been below average, and her polarizing traits had led to her weaknesses to be exploited more easily as the metagame hads advanced, leading most players to believe that while Zelda fared much better in ''Ultimate'', she had not improved significantly compared to other previously lower-ranked characters in ''SSB4'', such as {{SSBU|Palutena}}, {{SSBU|Pac-Man}}, {{SSBU|Falco}} and {{SSBU|Wii Fit Trainer}}, with most players re-evaluating her as a lower mid-tier or low tier character once more (though not to the extent of ''SSB4''). Fortunately, {{SSBU|7.0.0}} has brought her meaningful improvements that have made her moveset more cohesive and consistent. {{SSBU|11.0.0}} also improved the consistency of her forward smash, making it a much more reliable kill option, while {{SSBU|13.0.0}} brought additional consistency to her neutral game and ability to KO using smash attacks and her spike. She has had consistent tournament performance and a notable growth in her competitive player base over the past two years.  
Although Zelda benefits from some of the changes to the game's engine, other changes have impaired her as well. The new knockback speed-up effect further limits her already nerfed combo moves, as knockback was sped up more than her mobility was increased. The increased [[shieldstun]] both helps and hinders Zelda, as it allows her moves to be more safely spaced, but combined with the universal reductions to landing lag (despite aerials having less shieldstun) and nerfs to shield drop lag and grabs out of shieldstun, it also slightly worsens her out of shield game in some cases. Her air dodges are also now much laggier than average, which worsens her disadvantage state.


Despite these changes, she is still generally viewed as a lower mid tier character with many top ranked players placing her in low tier. Despite her powerful out of shield options, fast burst options, KO power, and ledge trapping, her poor disadvantage, mobility, and inconsistency are big weaknesses that prevent her from being higher up in the tier list. However, this incarnation of Zelda is universally agreed to be the strongest one yet, and she is generally considered to be a viable character for the first time in the series.
Overall, Zelda's moveset has been enhanced from previous installments, making her strengths more defined, especially around Phantom Slash as the new crux of her game plan. The changes overall allow Zelda to fare better than in previous installments, with this incarnation being her strongest one yet. However, she still underperforms compared to the rest of the cast. Nerfs to her combo tools, consistency and precision have tempered her buffs by effectively transferring many of her other moves' usages to Phantom, centralizing her playstyle around the reworked move. Game updates have brought her quality-of-life improvements, mostly making several moves across the board even stronger, while failing to address Zelda's core weaknesses. She still suffers from her more problematic attributes, i.e. her laggy initial dash, low fall speed, low gravity and low weight. Most significantly, many of her normals are worse compared to previous iterations, suffering from lack of utility due to impractically small hitboxes, poor or inconsistent follow-up potential, punishable sourspots and/or heavy ending lag.


{{SSB4 to SSBU changelist|char=Zelda}}
{{SSB4 to SSBU changelist|char=Zelda}}


==Update history==
==Update history==
Zelda has been buffed overall via game updates, receiving significant changes in update 7.0.0 and 13.0.0. Notable buffs in version 7.0.0 include her neutral aerial connecting better and having less landing lag, her up aerial having more range, knockback and a longer duration, her forward tilt becoming stronger, and [[Phantom Slash]] dealing more damage at all charge levels. In 13.0.0, the first hit of her neutral attack was made slightly faster, somewhat improving its consistency as a combo starter, her up and down smash inflict more knockback, and her down aerial's sweetspot is significantly larger, making it an all around more reliable tool. Aside from these buffs, as of 10.1.0, her forward smash connects better and has more range.
Zelda has been buffed overall via game updates, receiving the biggest changes in update 7.0.0, followed by update 13.0.0. A majority of the changes focused on augmenting the power of her kill moves, with up smash, down smash, up aerial, and especially forward tilt and down special being stronger compared to release. Hitbox buffs made up aerial, down aerial's clean hit and Din's Fire's sweetspot larger, and increased the hitbox duration of up aerial and Din's Fire. Slight frame data buffs reduced the ending lag of her jab by 1 frame and the landing lag of neutral aerial by 3 frames. Multihit angle changes made forward smash more consistent; while also intending to do the same for neutral aerial, its angle changes were a mixed bag in practice, only improving its consistency in some cases, but making the final hit's launch direction much more volatile and thus making auto-cancel combos more difficult.
However, Zelda has also received minor nerfs to Phantom Slash; in update 3.0.0, its shield damage was reduced, hindering its potency in shield break setups, while in update 9.0.2, a bugfix removed a technique that allowed Zelda to spawn the Phantom in front of her, granting more protection during the charge.


Aside from the mixed change to neutral aerial's angles, Zelda has also received two minor nerfs, though negligible as the first was eventually negated, and the second was a reversal of a very brief unintended bug. In update 3.0.0, Phantom's shield damage was reduced, but the later 7.0.0 damage buff completely compensated for this. In update 9.0.2, a bugfix removed a shadow buff from the 9.0.1 patch that allowed Zelda to displace the Phantom much more easily, specifically to spawn it in front of her to grant more protection during the charge.


'''{{GameIcon|ssbu}} {{SSBU|3.0.0}}'''
'''{{GameIcon|ssbu}} {{SSBU|3.0.0}}'''
Line 97: Line 109:
|neutral1dmg=2.5% (hits 1-2)
|neutral1dmg=2.5% (hits 1-2)
|neutralinfdmg= 0.4% (loop), 3% (end)
|neutralinfdmg= 0.4% (loop), 3% (end)
|neutraldesc=Extends her palm to emit a burst of magical energy, then follows up with a series of several magical bursts before finishing with a slightly larger blast, which can KO near the edge at reasonable percentages. Unlike in the previous games, where it was the slowest at frame 11, it now comes out quickly, at frame 4. While it has decent disjoint range, it can miss shorter characters due to its high hitbox placement. The rapid jab is especially potent in calling out fast grounded approaches and some low non-disjointed aerial approaches. At low percentages, it is specifically good at setting up for [[Tech-chasing]].
|neutraldesc=Extends her palm to emit a burst of magical energy, then optionally follows up with a series of several magical bursts before a finishing blast, which can KO near the edge. Unlike in the previous games, where it was the slowest jab at frame 11, it is now her fastest move at frame 4. It no longer has a third hit, but can start combos on its own at high percents with certain hitboxes.
|ftiltname=Magical Cutter ({{ja|マジカルカッター|Majikaru Kattā}})
|ftiltname=Magical Cutter ({{ja|マジカルカッター|Majikaru Kattā}})
|ftiltdmg=15% (hand, blade), 11.5% (arm)
|ftiltdmg=15% (hand, blade), 11.5% (arm)
|ftiltdesc=A magically-infused outward knifehand strike. It can be angled and has two sweet spots (one on her hand and the other being a blade of magic) that possess respectable power. Its sweet spot KOs middleweights at around 93% while near the edge of {{SSBU|Final Destination}}. It has three sour spots, which are located on Zelda's arm and take priority over the sweet spots, is also reliable for KOing in spite of being noticeably weaker. Its sour spots KO middleweights at around 109% while near the edge of Final Destination. Due to its somewhat low ending lag for its power (24 frames), it's safe on shield with good spacing, and thanks to its five hitboxes sharing almost identical knockback values, it has good range. However, it has noticeable startup lag at frame 12, as well as small and narrow hitboxes, and it can sometimes miss small or crouching characters.
|ftiltdesc=A magically-infused outward knifehand strike. It can be angled and has two sweetspots at the tip that possess great power. It has three sourspots located on Zelda's arm that take priority over the sweetspots, being noticeably weaker but still having above-average KO power. Its high base knockback makes it especially potent at early KOs near the ledge. The sweetspots KO middleweights at around 83% while near the edge of {{SSBU|Final Destination}}, and the sourspots KO at around 109%. It's safe on shield when spaced with the sweetspot. However, it has noticeable startup lag at frame 12 with an active duration of only two frames, as well as having strict priority and small and narrow hitboxes, making it hard to sweetspot, or even land at all on small or crouching characters, or opponents in the air.
|utiltname=Barricader ({{ja|バリケーダー|Barikēdā}})
|utiltname=Barricader ({{ja|バリケーダー|Barikēdā}})
|utiltdmg=7.2%
|utiltdmg=7.2%
|utiltdesc=Waves her arm in an overhead arcing motion while her hand is infused with magical energy. Due to it hitting on frame 7 and having very long active duration and almost no ending lag, it is one of Zelda's most reliable combo starters. It can combo into itself, neutral attack, up smash, [[Nayru's Love]], and [[Farore's Wind]] at low percentages; into neutral aerial from low to medium percentages as well as into Lightning Kick out of a reversed up tilt; and up aerial at medium percentages out of a reversed up tilt. It is also good as an anti-air attack thanks to its long active duration.
|utiltdesc=Waves her arm in an overhead arcing motion while her hand is infused with magical energy. Due to it hitting on frame 7 and having a long active duration and low ending lag, it is one of Zelda's most reliable combo starters. It can combo into itself, neutral attack and up smash at low percentages, into neutral aerial as well as Lightning Kick from low to medium percentages, and into up aerial at medium percentages out of a reversed up tilt. Its combo potential increases the later the frame on which it hits. It is also a strong anti-air attack thanks to its disjoint, large hitbox and long duration.
|dtiltname=Low Kick ({{ja|ローキック|Rō Kikku}})
|dtiltname=Low Kick ({{ja|ローキック|Rō Kikku}})
|dtiltdmg=5.5%
|dtiltdmg=5.5%
|dtiltdesc=A kneeling low-level roundhouse kick. Due to it hitting on frame 5, it is Zelda's fastest tilt attack. However, unlike in ''SSB4'', it has noticeably less combo potential, mostly serving as a fast safe poke. It can, however, combo into a dash attack or neutral aerial at mid percentages. With proper timing, it can also be a KO combo into forward aerial.
|dtiltdesc=A kneeling low-level kick. Due to it hitting on frame 5, it is Zelda's fastest tilt attack and her fastest move to execute. Compared to ''SSB4'', it has smaller range and noticeably less combo potential, mostly serving as a fast, low-committal and low-profiling poke. It can, however, combo into a dash attack and Lightning Kick at mid percentages. It can also be a KO combo into forward or back aerial, especially with poor DI. It is potent in calling out fast grounded approaches and two-framing.
|dashname=Quick Palm Shot ({{ja|クイックパームショット|Kuikku Pōmu Shotto}})
|dashname=Quick Palm Shot ({{ja|クイックパームショット|Kuikku Pōmu Shotto}})
|dashdmg= 12% (clean sweet spot), 9% (clean sour spot), 6% (late)
|dashdmg= 12% (clean sweet spot), 9% (clean sour spot), 6% (late)
|dashdesc=A double palm thrust that emits a blast of magical energy from her hands, similarly to [[Peach]]'s dash attack. The sweet spot lasts for two frames and is located on Zelda's hands. Due to it hitting on frame 6, it is one of the fastest dash attacks in the game. To complement this, its sweet spot's base is strong enough to KO middleweights at around 99% while near the edge of Final Destination. However, it has a noticeable ending lag, while its other hitboxes lack KO potential.
|dashdesc=A double palm thrust that emits a blast of magical energy from her hands. The sweetspot lasts for two frames and is located at Zelda's hands. Due to it hitting on frame 6, it is one of the fastest dash attacks in the game. To complement this, its sweetspot's high base knockback allows it KO middleweights at around 120% while near the edge of Final Destination. However, it is small, with its other hitboxes lacking KO potential, and is unsafe especially on shield.
|fsmashname=Shining Palm Shot ({{ja|シャイニングパームショット|Shainingu Pōmu Shotto}})
|fsmashname=Shining Palm Shot ({{ja|シャイニングパームショット|Shainingu Pōmu Shotto}})
|fsmashdmg={{ChargedSmashDmgSSBU|1}} (hits 1-4), {{ChargedSmashDmgSSBU|13}} (hit 5)
|fsmashdmg={{ChargedSmashDmgSSBU|1}} (hits 1-4), {{ChargedSmashDmgSSBU|13}} (hit 5)
|fsmashdesc=A palm thrust that emits a multiple-hitting blast of magical energy. Its last hit's respectable damage output and very high knockback growth make it strong enough to KO middleweights at around 65% while near the edge of Final Destination. Its multiple hits also make it useful for pressuring shields, especially when it is charged, which combined with its moderate ending lag, with 26 frames, it is safe on shield and very hard to punish with good spacing. Due to it hitting on frame 16, however, it has the highest start-up lag out of Zelda's smash attacks.
|fsmashdesc=A palm thrust that emits a multiple-hitting blast of magical energy. Its last hit's respectable damage output and high knockback growth make it strong enough to KO middleweights at around 75% near the edge of Final Destination. Its multiple hits also make it useful for pressuring shields, especially when it is charged, which combined with its moderate ending lag at 26 frames, makes it hard to punish on shield with good spacing. Due to it hitting on frame 16, however, it has the highest start-up lag out of Zelda's smash attacks.
|usmashname=Power Steer ({{ja|パワースティア|Pawā Sutia}})
|usmashname=Power Steer ({{ja|パワースティア|Pawā Sutia}})
|usmashdmg={{ChargedSmashDmgSSBU|2}} (hits 1-4), {{ChargedSmashDmgSSBU|0.8}} (hits 5-6), {{ChargedSmashDmgSSBU|5}} (hit 7)
|usmashdmg={{ChargedSmashDmgSSBU|2}} (hits 1-4), {{ChargedSmashDmgSSBU|0.8}} (hits 5-6), {{ChargedSmashDmgSSBU|5}} (hit 7)
|usmashdesc=Waves her arm twice in an overhead fanning motion while her hand is infused with magical energy. It hits on frame 9, which is fairly fast for a smash attack. When coupled with its multiple hits and its last hit's extremely high knockback growth, it is useful for both KOing and pressuring shields. Its last hit KOs aerial middleweights at around 104% from anywhere on Final Destination. It also has some combo potential at low percents, and the looping hits of neutral aerial can connect into an up smash. However, it has minimal horizontal range, long duration and 30 frames of ending lag, thus making it punishable if not used properly.
|usmashdesc=Waves her arm twice in an overhead fanning motion while her hand is infused with magical energy that hits several times. It hits on frame 9, which is fairly fast for a smash attack and makes it a decent point-blank out of shield option. It has a very long duration, making it good at catching getups and landings, and has a good vertical disjoint. Its last hit KOs aerial middleweights at around 104% from anywhere on Final Destination. However, it has minimal horizontal range and 30 frames of ending lag, thus making it very punishable if not used properly.
|dsmashname=Spinning Low Kick ({{ja|スピニングローキック|Supiningu Rō Kikku}})
|dsmashname=Spinning Low Kick ({{ja|スピニングローキック|Supiningu Rō Kikku}})
|dsmashdmg={{ChargedSmashDmgSSBU|12}} (front), {{ChargedSmashDmgSSBU|10}} (back)
|dsmashdmg={{ChargedSmashDmgSSBU|12}} (front), {{ChargedSmashDmgSSBU|10}} (back)
|dsmashdesc=A spinning, low-level roundhouse kick. Due to it hitting on frame 5, it is tied with {{SSBU|Mario}}, {{SSBU|Dr. Mario}}, {{SSBU|Pit}}, {{SSBU|Dark Pit}}, {{SSBU|Ryu}}, and {{SSBU|Ken}}'s down smashes for the second-fastest smash attack of any kind in the game, being surpassed only by {{SSB4|Meta Knight}}'s [[buffer]]ed down smash. It is also a [[semi-spike]] that hits on both sides, which makes it very useful for punishing rolls or setting up an edge-guard. Although it is Zelda's weakest smash attack, it is still quite powerful and has a rather low ending lag. Its front hit KOs middleweights at around 117% while near the edge of Final Destination. In comparison, its back hit KOs them at around 122% while near the edge of Final Destination.
|dsmashdesc=A spinning, low-level roundhouse kick. Due to it hitting on frame 5, it is tied with {{SSBU|Mario}}, {{SSBU|Dr. Mario}}, {{SSBU|Pit}}, {{SSBU|Dark Pit}}, {{SSBU|Ryu}}, and {{SSBU|Ken}}'s down smashes for the second-fastest smash attack of any kind in the game, being surpassed only by {{SSBU|Meta Knight}}'s [[buffer]]ed down smash. It hits on both sides, making it useful for punishing rolls, and the foot hitboxes [[semi-spike]] which is useful for setting up an edge-guard. Although it is Zelda's weakest smash attack, it is still decently strong and has rather moderate ending lag. The front hit deals higher damage, and the sweetspot KOs at around 112% on middleweights near the edge of Final Destination; in comparison, the back hit sweetspot KOs them at around 117%.
|nairname=Zelda Spin ({{ja|ゼルダスピン|Zeruda Supin}})
|nairname=Zelda Spin ({{ja|ゼルダスピン|Zeruda Supin}})
|nairdmg={{ShortHopDmgSSBU|2.5}} (hits 1-4, front), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|1.5}} (hits 1-4, back), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|5}} (hit 5)
|nairdmg={{ShortHopDmgSSBU|2.5}} (hits 1-4, front), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|1.5}} (hits 1-4, back), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|5}} (hit 5)
|nairdesc=Twirls with her arms outstretched and her hands infused with magical energy. Due to it hitting on frame 6, it is tied with forward and back aerials for the lowest amount of start-up lag out of Zelda's aerials. It has a decent amount of utility: it has a great damage output, especially if the opponents are hit from the front, can be used as a follow-up from down throw; as a combo starter when [[SHFF]]'d, or as an edge-guarding option, and it can autocancel in a short hop. The last hit also has decent knockback for its type, as it can KO middleweights at around 150% at the edge of Final Destination without rage. Although the move was buffed in order to make the multi-hit more consistent, opponents can get launched out of the multi-hit portion at a multitude of percentages, reducing its consistency and reliability. This issue is made worse if Zelda is fast-falling in the multi-hit portion.
|nairdesc=Twirls twice with her arms outstretched and her hands infused with magical energy. Due to it hitting on frame 6, it is tied with forward and back aerials for the lowest amount of start-up lag out of Zelda's aerials. It has large hitboxes on both sides with several hits, making it rather versatile; it has a rather high damage output, especially with the front hits, can start combos when [[SHFF]]ed, can string into other moves with good drift in an autocanceled short hop, or can be an edge-guarding option. The last hit has decent knockback for its type, as it can KO middleweights at around 150% at the edge of Final Destination without rage. The moved was changed from Smash 4, resulting in the multi-hits being weaker and less consistent, with opponents sometimes being able to fall out of the multi-hit portion, reducing its consistency and reliability. This issue is most salient if Zelda is fast-falling or drifting away in the multi-hit portion.
|fairname=[[Lightning Kick|Lightning Kick (Front)]] ({{ja|稲妻キック（前）|Inazuma Kikku (Mae)}})
|fairname=[[Lightning Kick|Lightning Kick (Front)]] ({{ja|稲妻キック（前）|Inazuma Kikku (Mae)}})
|fairdmg={{ShortHopDmgSSBU|20}} (clean foot), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|4}} (clean leg, late)
|fairdmg={{ShortHopDmgSSBU|20}} (clean foot), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|4}} (clean leg, late)
|fairdesc=A magically-infused flying kick. Its sweet spot is at the tip of her foot, has both an outstanding damage output and high knockback growth, KOing middleweights at around 59% while near the edge of Final Destination, similarly to Captain Falcon's Knee Smash, although faster and marginally stronger, making it the strongest forward aerial in the game. Due to coming out on frame 6, it's also extremely fast for its power. Compared to back air, it has slightly less knockback, but autocancels slightly earlier and have less landing lag. However, the sweet spot only lasts for one frame when the hitboxes become active, and the sour spots lack KO potential and are very unsafe because of their extremely low damage outputs and average knockback growth. Its considerable ending lag also makes it punishable at low percentages, even if it is sweet spotted, and due to the aforementioned very low damage and knockback, the sour spot can lock opponents and set-up in other moves, lacks utility otherwise. Autocancels in a full hop fast fall, just one frame after Zelda reaches the peak of her short hop, similarly to Kirby's forward aerial.
|fairdesc=A magically-infused flying kick. Its sweetspot is at the tip of her foot and has both an outstanding damage output and high knockback growth, KOing middleweights at around 59% while near the edge of Final Destination, similarly to Captain Falcon's Knee Smash, though slightly weaker. At frame 6, it's quite fast for its power. Compared to back air, it has slightly less knockback, but autocancels slightly earlier and has less landing lag. However, the sweetspot only lasts for one frame, and the sourspots are very weak and unsafe, even on hit because of their extremely low damage and base knockback. Its considerable ending lag also makes it punishable at low percentages, sometimes even if it is sweetspotted. Due to the aforementioned very low damage and knockback, the sourspot can lock opponents and set up into other moves at high percents but lacks utility otherwise. Autocancels in a full hop fast fall, just one frame after Zelda reaches the peak of her short hop, similarly to Kirby's forward aerial.
|bairname=[[Lightning Kick|Lightning Kick (Back)]] ({{ja|稲妻キック（後）|Inazuma Kikku (Ato)}})
|bairname=[[Lightning Kick|Lightning Kick (Back)]] ({{ja|稲妻キック（後）|Inazuma Kikku (Ato)}})
|bairdmg={{ShortHopDmgSSBU|20}} (clean foot), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|4}} (clean leg, late)
|bairdmg={{ShortHopDmgSSBU|20}} (clean foot), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|4}} (clean leg, late)
|bairdesc=A magically-infused flying kick. It functions almost identically to forward aerial, with the only difference being that its sweet spot has slightly more base knockback and knockback growth. Its sweet spot KOs middleweights at around 54% while near the edge of Final Destination. However, it has the highest amount of landing lag out of Zelda's aerials.
|bairdesc=A magically-infused flying kick. It functions identically to forward aerial, with the only difference being that its sweetspot has slightly more base knockback and knockback growth, in exchange for having slightly more landing lag and auto-canceling slightly later. It is the strongest back aerial in the game, with the sweetspot KOing middleweights at around 54% while near the edge of Final Destination. However, it has the highest amount of landing lag out of Zelda's aerials.
|uairname=Condense Blast ({{ja|コンデンスブラスト|Kondensu Burasuto}})
|uairname=Condense Blast ({{ja|コンデンスブラスト|Kondensu Burasuto}})
|uairdmg={{ShortHopDmgSSBU|17}} (clean hit), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|12}} (late hit)
|uairdmg={{ShortHopDmgSSBU|17}} (clean hit), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|12}} (late hit)
|uairdesc=Leans back and turns slightly to extend her arm in order to use her magic to create a fiery explosion from her index and middle fingers. It is the most damaging and second strongest up aerial in the game, only slightly weaker than Shulk's up aerial if the second hit is sweet spotted. When coupled with its consistent hitbox, it is Zelda's most reliable aerial KOing option, KOing middleweights at around 100% from a full hop. It can also clip through platforms or the bottom of a stage's edge and has a great vertical range thanks to its large hitbox. However, it is slow, hitting on frame 14, which makes it tied with down aerial for the highest amount of start-up lag out of Zelda's aerials. It also has high ending lag (40 frames), a short duration, and a fairly short horizontal range. It autocancels in a full hop.
|uairdesc=Leans back and turns slightly, extending her arm to create a fiery explosion above her from her index and middle fingers. It is the most damaging and second strongest up aerial in the game, behind Shulk's up aerial if the second hit is sweetspotted. It KOs middleweights at around 100% from a full hop. It has a huge vertical disjoint thanks to its large hitbox and high position, being able to clip through platforms or the bottom of stage edges. It also has a late hit that is weaker but improves its ability to juggle. However, it is slow, hitting on frame 14, which makes it tied with down aerial for the highest amount of start-up lag out of Zelda's aerials. It also has high ending lag (35 frames) and a fairly short horizontal range. It autocancels in a full hop.
|dairname=Meteor Heel ({{ja|マイルドメテオヒール|Mairudo Meteo Hīru}}, ''Mild Meteor Heel'')
|dairname=Meteor Heel ({{ja|マイルドメテオヒール|Mairudo Meteo Hīru}}, ''Mild Meteor Heel'')
|dairdmg={{ShortHopDmgSSBU|16}} (clean), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|5}} (late, leg), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|4}} (late, foot)
|dairdmg={{ShortHopDmgSSBU|16}} (clean), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|5}} (late, leg), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|4}} (late, foot)
|dairdesc=A magically-infused stomp, also known as the Lightning Stomp. All of its hitboxes are [[meteor smash]]es, with its sweet spot being the most powerful among them and they can also lock opponents. Its sour spot, though significantly weaker, lasts deceptively long, allowing it to potentially gimp fighters with poor recoveries. It also has low ending lag and the lowest landing lag out of Zelda's aerials, which enables its sweet spot to start combos on grounded opponents quite reliably, as it can lock. Safe on shield with proper spacing. It hits on frame 14, which ties it with up aerial for the highest amount of start-up lag out of Zelda's aerials but combined with its deceptively long duration and its low ending lag, it's somewhat fast for a meteor smash. It can also autocancel in a short hop.
|dairdesc=A magically-infused stomp, also known as the Lightning Stomp. All of its hitboxes are [[meteor smash]]es and can lock opponents, with its sweetspot being the most powerful among them. Its sourspot lasts deceptively long, allowing it to potentially gimp fighters with poor recoveries, but deals even less knockback than Lightning Kicks' sourspots. It ties for the lowest landing lag out of Zelda's aerials, which allows it to be safe on shield with proper spacing, and enables its sweetspot to reliably start combos on grounded opponents. It hits on frame 14, which ties with up aerial for the highest amount of start-up lag out of Zelda's aerials, but combined with its deceptively long duration and its low ending lag, it's somewhat fast for a meteor smash. Like neutral aerial, it can also autocancel in a short hop.
|grabname=Holding ({{ja|ホールディング|Hōrudingu}})
|grabname=Holding ({{ja|ホールディング|Hōrudingu}})
|grabdesc=Restrains the opponent with magic. Zelda's grabs have long-range and are somewhat disjointed, with her pivot grab being one of the longest non-tether pivot grabs, but also have a noticeable start-up and ending lag.
|grabdesc=Restrains the opponent with magic. Zelda's grabs have long-range and are somewhat disjointed, with her pivot grab being one of the longest non-tether pivot grabs, but also have a noticeable start-up and ending lag.
|pummelname=Holding Attack ({{ja|ホールディングアタック|Hōrudingu Atakku}})
|pummelname=Holding Attack ({{ja|ホールディングアタック|Hōrudingu Atakku}})
|pummeldmg=1.3%
|pummeldmg=1.3%
|pummeldesc= A blast of magical energy. Moderate speed and damage.
|pummeldesc=A point-blank blast of magical energy. Average power and speed.
|fthrowname=Force Move ({{ja|フォースムーブ|Fōsu Mūbu}})
|fthrowname=Force Move ({{ja|フォースムーブ|Fōsu Mūbu}})
|fthrowdmg=10%
|fthrowdmg=10%
|fthrowdesc=Magically spins the opponent in front of herself and then throws them away. It is useful for setting up edge-guards thanks to its high base knockback and good damage output but lacks KO potential because of its low knockback growth, often not KOing until 200% without rage. However, it puts the opponent in a dangerous position.
|fthrowdesc=Magically pulls the opponent back and then tosses them away. It is useful for sending opponents off stage, even at low percents, thanks to its high base knockback, but due to its low knockback growth lacks KO potential unless extremely close to the horizontal blast zone. However, it can combo into Phantom Slash for high damage or an early KO.
|bthrowname=Force Back Move ({{ja|フォースバックムーブ|Fōsu Bakku Mūbu}})
|bthrowname=Force Back Move ({{ja|フォースバックムーブ|Fōsu Bakku Mūbu}})
|bthrowdmg=12%
|bthrowdmg=12%
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|uthrowname=Force Top Move ({{ja|フォーストップムーブ|Fōsu Toppu Mūbu}})
|uthrowname=Force Top Move ({{ja|フォーストップムーブ|Fōsu Toppu Mūbu}})
|uthrowdmg=11%
|uthrowdmg=11%
|uthrowdesc=Magically spins the opponent overhead and then throws them upward. It is one of the most damaging up throws in the game and has both excellent KO potential and decent combo potential, but it only applies to heavyweights and fast-fallers, as it can combo into neutral aerial at low percentages against such characters; In addition to its combo potential, it can KO middleweights at around 146% from anywhere on Final Destination, and is tied with Incineroar and Lucas's up throws for the fifth strongest up throw in the game. Overall, these attributes make it one of the best up throws in the game.
|uthrowdesc=Magically spins the opponent overhead and then hurls them upward. It has excellent KO potential, being able to KO middleweights at around 146% from anywhere on Final Destination, and is tied with Incineroar and Lucas's up throws for the fifth strongest up throw in the game. On heavyweights and fast-fallers, it also has limited combo potential into neutral aerial at low percentages. Overall, these attributes make it one of the best up throws in the game.
|dthrowname=Plasma Beat ({{ja|プラズマビート|Purazuma Bīto}})
|dthrowname=Plasma Beat ({{ja|プラズマビート|Purazuma Bīto}})
|dthrowdmg=1.5% (hits 1-4), 2% (throw)
|dthrowdmg=1.5% (hits 1-4), 2% (throw)
|dthrowdesc=Magically shoves the opponent underneath herself and then blasts them with fiery, magical energy from her hands. It functions as Zelda's only true combo throw, launching up and behind Zelda, allowing it to combo into neutral aerial, up aerial, back aerial, forward aerial, as well as neutral special and up special. Its angle is heavily affected by DI, but DI can be reacted to for a guaranteed follow-up. Its up aerial and back aerial combo at mid percentages are fairly consistent, especially with proper timing. Its up aerial combo also boasts the ability to KO characters at high percentages. However, this combo will lose its effectiveness if Zelda has too much [[rage]].
|dthrowdesc=Casts the opponent onto the ground and then blasts them with fiery magic from her hands while levitating. It functions as Zelda's only reliable combo throw, launching up and behind her. Its DI can be reacted to for a guaranteed follow-up from low to mid percents. With DI in, it can combo into neutral aerial, Lightning Kick, up aerial and up special. With DI out, it can combo into a dash back forward aerial or back aerial fairly consistently with proper timing from low to mid percents. Its combo potential will be more limited the more [[rage]] Zelda has.
|floorfname= 
|floorfname= 
|floorfdmg=7%
|floorfdmg=7%
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|edgedesc=Performs a kick while climbing up.
|edgedesc=Performs a kick while climbing up.
|nsname=Nayru's Love
|nsname=Nayru's Love
|nsdmg=2% (hits 1-3), 5% (hit 4, close), 4% (hit 4, tip) 1.25× (reflected projectiles)
|nsdmg=2%/1% (hits 1-3, near/far), 5%/4% (hit 4, near/far), 1.25× (reflected projectiles)
|nsdesc=[[zeldawiki:Nayru's Love|Creates a crystalline barrier around herself]]. The barrier deals damage and [[Reflection|reflects]] projectiles with 25% more power and speed than they originally had. It also grants [[intangibility]] on frames 4-13, making it good as a defensive option against combos. However, it has a moderate start-up for its hitboxes (frame 11) and considerable ending lag, making it punishable if used recklessly, so it must be used carefully and not overused to avoid punishment.
|nsdesc=[[zeldawiki:Nayru's Love|Creates a blue crystalline barrier with shards around herself]]. They deal moderate damage and [[Reflection|reflect]] projectiles with 25% more damage and speed. It also grants full [[intangibility]] on frames 4-13, making it good at beating out other moves and sometimes good as a defensive option to disrupt strings. However, it has a moderate start-up for its hitboxes (frame 11) and considerable ending lag, making it punishable if used recklessly.
|ssname=Din's Fire
|ssname=Din's Fire
|ssdmg=7%-14% (sweet spot), 3.5%-7% (sour spot)
|ssdmg=7%-14% (sweetspot), 3.5%-7% (sourspot)
|ssdesc=[[zeldawiki:Din's Fire|Launches a magical fireball]]. It can be aimed up or down, and releasing the button causes it to explode. It has a large hitbox, and despite being a projectile, it cannot be reflected but only absorbed. The longer the button is held down, the farther the fireball will travel, and it will automatically detonate when it reaches its maximum distance. Its sweet spot, which is located in the inner part of the explosion, is quite powerful, especially when fully charged. It is very useful for edge guarding. Fully charged sweet spotted Din's Fire KOs middleweights at around 87% while near the edge of Final Destination. However, it is very predictable, and its sour spot is very weak regardless of its charge.
|ssdesc=[[zeldawiki:Din's Fire|Launches a magical fireball]] that slowly accelerates forward. Its trajectory can be altered, albeit marginally, by holding up or down, and releasing the special button causes it to stop and then explode after a moment. It has a large hitbox, and only the explosion can be reflected or absorbed. The longer the button is held down, the farther the fireball will travel, and it will automatically detonate when it reaches its maximum distance. Its sweetspot, which is located in the inner part of the explosion, is quite powerful. When fully charged, the sweetspot can KO middleweights at around 87% while near the edge of Final Destination, but the sourspot is very weak regardless of its charge. While useful off stage on characters with bad recoveries, it is otherwise easily avoidable with an air dodge or simply clanking. Even though it is hard to land itself, it can force the opponent to use an air dodge and recover low/to the ledge.
|usname=Farore's Wind
|usname=Farore's Wind
|usdmg=6% (hit 1), 10% (grounded hit 2 near), 7% (grounded hit 2 far), 12% (aerial hit 2 near), 8% (aerial hit 2 far)
|usdmg=6% (hit 1), 10%/7% (grounded hit 2 near/far), 12%/8% (aerial hit 2 near/far)
|usdesc=[[zeldawiki:Farore's Wind|Warps in a given direction]]. It travels a long distance and can be angled in eight directions similarly to Fox's Fire Fox, but is much faster compared to it. It deals damage upon contact while disappearing and while reappearing, and grants intangibility on frames 21-39. When combined with a jump, its travel distance is greatly increased. Its grounded disappearance has very high base knockback, very low knockback growth and launches at 91°, all of which enable it to combo easily into its reappearance when it is aimed upward. In comparison, its reappearance has a sweet spot near Zelda that has a decent damage output, high base knockback, and high knockback growth, all of which makes it very reliable at KOing, especially near the upper blast line. Its sweet spotted reappearance KOs middleweights at around 68% while near the upper blast line of Final Destination and in conjunction with the initial grounded hit, while the grounded reappearance can KO middleweights at around 71% from the edge of Final Destination. However, its reappearance has a sour spot that, although safe, lacks KO potential because of its lower damage output and average base knockback, and due to it incurring [[helpless]]ness, it is highly punishable if whiffed. It can be edge-canceled, a trait it shares with Sheik's Vanish, Mewtwo's Teleport and Palutena's Warp.
|usdesc=[[zeldawiki:Farore's Wind|Warps in a given direction]]. It travels a long distance and can be angled omnidirectionally, similarly to Fox's Fire Fox, but is much faster in comparison. It deals damage to nearby opponents both while disappearing and while reappearing, and grants full intangibility during its travel. Its disappearance launches upward, enabling it to combo into its reappearance at various percents when aimed correctly. The reappearance has a sweetspot that deals high damage, high base knockback, and high knockback growth, making it potent at KOing, especially near the upper blast line. Its sweetspotted aerial reappearance can KO middleweights off the top blast zone at around 68% from the initial grounded hit (though heavily dependent on DI and LSI), while the grounded reappearance can KO middleweights at around 71% from the edge of Final Destination. The reappearance has a sourspot that, although large and safe on hit, lacks KO potential, and due to the move incurring [[helpless]]ness, it is punishable if whiffed. It can be edge-canceled, a trait it shares with Sheik's Vanish, Mewtwo's Teleport and Palutena's Warp.
|dsname=Phantom Slash
|dsname=Phantom Slash
|dsdmg=5.9% (level 1), 8.2% (level 2), 10.5%/11.8% (level 3) 14.1%/15.4% (level 4), 17.7% (level 5)
|dsdmg=5.9% (level 1), 8.2% (level 2), 10.5%/11.8% (level 3) 14.1%/15.4% (level 4), 17.7% (level 5)
|dsdesc=Conjures a {{s|zeldawiki|Phantom}} piece by piece and propels it forward with another button press. Serves as a projectile with varying attacks reaching various levels of damage and distance depending on the charge. When fully charged, the phantom will delay its attack for around a second, giving Zelda time to add pressure, perform combined combos or to retreat behind it for protection, and if the opponent tries to reflect it, she can react by using Nayru's Love. When fully charged, the phantom can KO middleweights at around 84% from the edge of Final Destination. Very versatile and one of Zelda's best options in the neutral game and advantage state.
|dsdesc=Conjures a {{s|zeldawiki|Phantom}} piece by piece and propels it forward with another button press. Serves as a projectile with varying attacks of increasing degrees of speed, HP, power and distance. When fully charged, the Phantom can delay its attack for up to about a second, effectively controlling a large space and giving Zelda time to add pressure, perform combined combos or to retreat behind it for protection. When fully charged, the Phantom can KO middleweights at around 84% from the edge of Final Destination. Very versatile and one of Zelda's best options in the neutral game and advantage state.
|fsname=Triforce of Wisdom
|fsname=Triforce of Wisdom
|fsdmg=7% (initial vacuum), 3% (subsequent vacuum), 60% (main)
|fsdmg=7% (initial vacuum), 3% (subsequent vacuum), 60% (main)
|fsdesc=Uses the [[zeldawiki:Triforce|Triforce of Wisdom]] to generate a triangular portal that sucks in opponents using massive periodic shockwaves. Upon catching an opponent, they will either be launched with poor knockback. However, if they reach 100% or higher during it, they are instantly KO'd. Very difficult to avoid on smaller stages (such as {{SSB|Dream Land}} or [[Mushroom Kingdom II]]), due to its long duration and large vacuum hitboxes.
|fsdesc=Uses the [[zeldawiki:Triforce|Triforce of Wisdom]] to generate a triangular portal that sucks in opponents using massive periodic shockwaves. Upon catching an opponent, they will take heavy damage before either being launched with low knockback, or being instantly KOed if they reach 100% or higher before the final hit. Very difficult to avoid on smaller stages (such as {{SSB|Dream Land}} or [[Mushroom Kingdom II]]), if not effectively impossible, due to its long duration and massive vacuum hitboxes.
}}
===Stats===
 
{{Attributes
| cast=89
| weight=85 | rweight=72-73
| dash=1.958 | rdash=36-37
| run=1.43 | rrun=81-82
| walk=0.914 | rwalk=68
| trac=0.116 | rtrac=20-28
| airfric=0.006 | rairfric=77-78
| air=1.092 | rair=40-41
| baseaccel=0.01 | rbaseaccel=15-87
| addaccel=0.055 | raddaccel=51-52
| gravity=0.071 | rgravity=80
| fall=1.35 | rfall=71-74
| ff=2.16 | rff=71-74
| jumpsquat=3 | rjumpsquat=1-88
| jumpheight=31.55 | rjumpheight=54
| shorthop=15.24 | rshorthop=57
| djump=31.55 | rdjump=61
}}
}}


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*Smiles and performs a pondering gesture with a finger tapping her cheek.
*Smiles and performs a pondering gesture with a finger tapping her cheek.
<gallery>
<gallery>
SSBUZeldaIdle1.gif|Zelda's first idle pose
SSBUZeldaIdle1.gif|Zelda's first idle pose.
SSBUZeldaIdle2.gif|Zelda's second idle pose
SSBUZeldaIdle2.gif|Zelda's second idle pose.
</gallery>
</gallery>


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==In [[competitive play]]==
==In [[competitive play]]==
===Tier placement and history===
Players were initially divided on Zelda's competitive viability. Much of the optimism surrounding the character could be attributed to her noticeably improved frame data over her ''Smash 4'' iteration, particularly on her jab and out-of-shield options, which were key grievances with the character's past iterations, as well as [[Phantom Slash]]'s higher utility. However, players found that some of her key issues, such as her low mobility and poor endurance, were retained from previous games as well. In spite of this, players such as {{Sm|ven}} had a fair degree of success with her upon ''Ultimate'''s release, leaving players considering Zelda as a mid-tier character. However, as time went on and the metagame progressed, her flaws were only further exploited, and her early success was not as high in comparison to the release metagame. This led to a more negative perspective as ''Ultimate'' continued to grow, with numerous professional players considering her as a low-tier character.
As the metagame developed, though, opinions on Zelda began to improve, as several players continued to place well with her. {{Sm|ven}}, in particular, has won sets against {{Sm|ESAM}} and {{Sm|Megafox}} and has had close sets with {{Sm|MkLeo}} and {{Sm|Glutonny}}. Furthermore, she has received noticeable improvements towards her consistencies (one of her key issues) in patches 7.0.0 and 10.1.0, which addressed her neutral aerial and forward smash, respectively. 13.0.0 brought additional consistency to her neutral game and ability to KO using smash attacks and her down air. Moreover, she has seen consistently good placements in tournaments and a notable growth in her player base over the past year. As such, many players now have a more positive opinion on Zelda, and she was considered to some as an upper-mid tier character, with players such as {{sm|Mew2King}}, {{Sm|Salem}}, {{Sm|Goblin}}, and ESAM, the latter initially believing Zelda to be low-tier, now considering her to be high-tier character. Others, however, claim that Zelda is still too polarizing as a character and believed she was still a mid-tier.
However, optimism for Zelda would prove to be short-lived as opinions of her would grow negative as time went on and the metagame progressed even further. Zelda saw a unanimous decrease in both her perception and results, and the return of offline play appeared to have little benefit for her. Zelda's flaws, such as her linear game plan and poor mobility, were only further exploited over time as most Zelda players would struggle with adapting to the progressing meta. This would lead to an increasingly negative perception of Zelda as collective opinions on Zelda considering her low-tier and lower-mid tier at best. Nonetheless, her best players such as {{Sm|ven}} and {{Sm|Yn}} have managed to continue place well with her in top-level play, with ven placing 9th at {{Trn|LVL UP EXPO 2023}} and Yn placing 9th at {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 11}}.
Currently, Zelda ranks 75th out of 82, placing her in the top of low tier. Due to all of her previous incarnations being bottom-three, it is generally agreed that she is much more viable than all of her previous incarnations and that this is the most viable she has been in the entire series.
===Most historically significant players===
===Most historically significant players===
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<!--This character has a ten player limit for this section. Before adding and/or removing a player, read these guidelines: https://www.ssbwiki.com/SmashWiki:Notability#%22Most_historically_significant_players%22_guidelines -->
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''See also: [[:Category:Zelda players (SSBU)]]''
''See also: [[:Category:Zelda players (SSBU)]]''


*{{Sm|Marf|Canada}} - The best Zelda player in Canada. Placed 3rd at {{Trn|Animethon 26}}, 4th at {{Trn|Salt Flats 2020}}, 7th at {{Trn|SKL: Prairie Pummel}}, and 13th at {{Trn|VORTEX}} with wins over players such as {{Sm|Exodia}}, {{Sm|Lights}}, and {{Sm|Alphicans}}. Ranked 3rd on the [[Alberta Power Rankings]].
*{{Sm|Maipan|Japan}} - The second-best Zelda player in Japan. He is best known for placing 17th at {{Trn|DELTA 8}}, defeating {{Sm|Zackray}} and {{Sm|Tea}} along the way. Although very inconsistent at other events, he had a few other noteworthy events including placing 17th at {{Trn|DELTA 7.5}} and 33rd at {{Trn|Seibugeki 13}} defeating {{Sm|TamaPDaifuku}} in the latter event.
*{{Sm|Mystearica|USA}} - One of the best Zelda players in the United States in the early metagame but has since dropped the character for {{SSBU|Palutena}}. Placed 5th at {{Trn|2GG: Run it Back}}, 25th at {{Trn|Pound 2019}}, and 33rd at both {{Trn|Smash 'N' Splash 5}} and {{Trn|DreamHack Atlanta 2019}} with wins over players such as {{Sm|Tea}}, {{Sm|Goblin}}, and {{Sm|Ned}}. Ranked 1st in the [[Indiana Power Rankings]].
*{{Sm|Naskino|France}} - The best Zelda player in Europe is a top 50 player on the continent in the post-online metagame, ranking 37th on the [[European Ultimate Power Rankings]] for the first half of 2023. He has consistently placed highly at several events, most notably 13th at {{Trn|King Of Fields 95 3}} and 17th at {{Trn|Temple: Hermès Edition}}. He retired in 2024.
*{{Sm|Naskino|France}} - The best solo-Zelda player in Europe. Placed 7th at {{Trn|Smash4Glory - Ultimate Edition}}, 9th at {{Trn|Ultimate WANTED 2}}, 17th at both {{Trn|Temple: Hermès Edition}} and {{Trn|Ultimate Fighting Arena 2022}}, and 33rd at {{Trn|Ultimate Fighting Arena 2019}} with wins over players such as {{Sm|Tarik}}, {{Sm|Leon}}, and {{Sm|Mr. E}}.
*{{Sm|ven|USA}} - The best Zelda player from 2019 to 2022. His best results were in the early metagame thanks to strong performances such as 17th at {{Trn|2GG: Prime Saga}} defeating {{Sm|ESAM}} and 33rd at {{Trn|2GG: Kongo Saga}} defeating {{Sm|Elegant}}; he was also the first Zelda player ranked on a global ranking, ranking 83rd on the [[OrionRank Ultimate: Six Months In]]. Although less consistent since, he has still seen some strong results, including 9th at {{Trn|LVL UP EXPO 2023}}, tied as the best Zelda placement at a major.
*{{Sm|ven|USA}} - One of the best Zelda players in the world. Placed 9th at both {{Trn|Wavedash 2022}} and {{Trn|LVL UP EXPO 2023}}, 13th at {{Trn|The Kid, the Goat, and the Mang0}}, 17th at {{Trn|2GG: Prime Saga}}, and 25th at {{Trn|2GG: SwitchFest 2019}} with wins over players such as {{Sm|ESAM}}, {{Sm|Gackt}}, and {{Sm|Kurama}}. Ranked 3rd on the [[Las Vegas Power Rankings]].
*{{Sm|Yn|Japan}} - The best Zelda player in the world since 2023. He has the best peaks for a Zelda player, including placing 9th at both {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 11}}, defeating {{Sm|Tea}}, and {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 14.5 "in Hyogo"}}, both of which are tied for the highest placement from a Zelda player at a major.
*{{Sm|Yn|Japan}} - One of the best Zelda players in the world. Placed 7th at {{Trn|Sumabato SP 15}}, 9th at {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 11}}, 13th at {{Trn|KOWLOON 3}}, 17th at {{Trn|Mēsuma}}, and 25th at {{Trn|Umebura SP 9}} with wins over players such as {{Sm|Tea}}, {{Sm|Kome}}, and {{Sm|Asimo}}.
 
===Tier placement and history===
Players were initially divided on Zelda's competitive viability. Many players pointed out that her key issues, most notably her low mobility and poor endurance, were retained from previous games. On the other hand, other players were more optimistic towards the character due to improved frame data over her ''Smash 4'' iteration, particularly on her out-of-shield options, as well as [[Phantom Slash]]'s higher utility. This optimism, coupled with strong early performances from players such as {{Sm|Mystearica}}, {{Sm|Naskino}}, and {{Sm|ven}}, led many to believe the character was a solid mid-tier, with some arguing that she could be a potential high-tier.
 
This optimism did not last for long, as Zelda's polarizing nature became more noticeable as time went on: despite receiving buffs in updates 7.0.0 and 13.0.0 that improved her consistency, Zelda's poor mobility, disadvantage, and highly risky neutral remained critical weaknesses. As a result, Zelda players began struggling in the developing metagame, and they either dropped the character (such as Mystearica) or saw worse results and consistency than before (such as ven). Although Naskino continued to do well in Europe and {{Sm|Yn}} began making waves in Japan in early-2023, opinions on Zelda continued to decline, and as a result she sits at 75th out of 82 on the first tier list, rising two spots in the second and current one. Although it is her best placement in the series and she is far better than all her previous incarnations, she is currently placed in low-tier.


=={{SSBU|Classic Mode}}: Wisdom Prevails==
=={{SSBU|Classic Mode}}: Wisdom Prevails==
[[File:SSBU Congratulations Zelda.png|thumb|Zelda's congratulations screen.]]
[[File:SSBU Congratulations Zelda.png|thumb|Zelda's congratulations screen.]]
All of Zelda's battles are on ''The Legend of Zelda''-themed stages, and all her opponents are antagonists. The final battle is against Ganondorf, who transforms into Ganon upon defeat.
Zelda's opponents are antagonists and she fights each of them on stages that hail from {{uv|The Legend of Zelda}} series.


{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
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|2||{{CharHead|Bowser|SSBU|hsize=20px}}||[[Skyloft]]||''{{SSBUMusicLink|The Legend of Zelda|Ballad of the Goddess (Original)}}''||
|2||{{CharHead|Bowser|SSBU|hsize=20px}}||[[Skyloft]]||''{{SSBUMusicLink|The Legend of Zelda|Ballad of the Goddess (Original)}}''||
|-
|-
|3||{{CharHead|Mii Swordfighter|SSBU|hsize=20px}} (x5)||[[Temple]]||''{{SSBUMusicLink|The Legend of Zelda|Temple Theme}}''||Horde Battle.<br>The Mii Swordfighters are dressed in Yiga Clan Mask and Yiga Clan Outfit.
|3||{{CharHead|Mii Swordfighter|SSBU|hsize=20px}} (×5)||[[Temple]]||''{{SSBUMusicLink|The Legend of Zelda|Temple Theme}}''||Horde Battle (3 at a time)<br>The Mii Swordfighters are dressed in the Yiga Clan Mask and Yiga Clan Outfit.
|-
|-
|4||Giant {{CharHead|King K. Rool|SSBU|hsize=20px}}||[[Bridge of Eldin]]||''{{SSBUMusicLink|The Legend of Zelda|Dark World (for 3DS / Wii U)}}''||A possible reference to King Bulblin.
|4||Giant {{CharHead|King K. Rool|SSBU|hsize=20px}}||[[Bridge of Eldin]]||''{{SSBUMusicLink|The Legend of Zelda|Dark World (for 3DS / Wii U)}}''||A possible reference to King Bulblin.
Line 296: Line 324:
|5||{{CharHead|Dark Samus|SSBU|hsize=20px}}||[[Gerudo Valley]]||''{{SSBUMusicLink|The Legend of Zelda|Hidden Mountain & Forest}}''||
|5||{{CharHead|Dark Samus|SSBU|hsize=20px}}||[[Gerudo Valley]]||''{{SSBUMusicLink|The Legend of Zelda|Hidden Mountain & Forest}}''||
|-
|-
|6||{{CharHead|Link|SSBU|hsize=20px|color=Black}} (x4)||[[Hyrule Castle]]||''{{SSBUMusicLink|The Legend of Zelda|Great Temple / Temple}}''||
|6||{{CharHead|Link|SSBU|hsize=20px|color=Black}} (×4)||[[Hyrule Castle]]||''{{SSBUMusicLink|The Legend of Zelda|Great Temple / Temple}}''||
|-
|-
|colspan="5"|[[Bonus Stage]]
|colspan="5"|[[Bonus Stage]]
Line 674: Line 702:
|{{SSBUMusicLink|Xenoblade Chronicles|Battle!!/Torna}}
|{{SSBUMusicLink|Xenoblade Chronicles|Battle!!/Torna}}
|Haze
|Haze
|-
|1,514
|{{SpiritTableName|Rauru|iw=zeldawiki|size=64}}
|''The Legend of Zelda'' Series
|•{{SSBU|Mewtwo}} {{Head|Mewtwo|g=SSBU|s=20px|cl=Purple}} (100 HP)<br>•{{SSBU|Zelda}} {{Head|Zelda|g=SSBU|s=20px}} (70 HP)<br>•Giant {{SSBU|R.O.B.}} {{Head|R.O.B.|g=SSBU|s=20px|cl=Green}} (70 HP)<br>•{{SSBU|Robin}} {{Head|Robin|g=SSBU|s=20px|cl=Red}} (60 HP)<br>•{{SSBU|Inkling}} {{Head|Inkling|g=SSBU|s=20px|cl=Cyan}} (60 HP)<br>•{{SSBU|Charizard}} {{Head|Charizard|g=SSBU|s=20px|cl=Yellow}} (60 HP)<br>•{{SSBU|Pit}} {{Head|Pit|g=SSBU|s=20px}} (60 HP)
|{{SpiritType|Neutral}}
|13,000
|[[Temple]] ([[Battlefield form]])
|N/A
|•[[Stamina battle]]<br>•The enemy favors neutral specials<br>•Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd
|{{SSBUMusicLink|The Legend of Zelda|Calamity Ganon Battle - Second Form}}
|Zelda (Tears of the Kingdom)
|}
|}


Latest revision as of 14:17, November 20, 2024

This article is about Zelda's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For the character in other contexts, see Princess Zelda.
Zelda
in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Zelda SSBU.png
ZeldaSymbol.svg
Universe The Legend of Zelda
Other playable appearances in Melee
in Brawl
in SSB4
Availability Unlockable
Final Smash Triforce of Wisdom
Tier D- (73)
Zelda (SSBU)

Zelda (ゼルダ, Zelda) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. She was confirmed as a playable character along with Sheik and the rest of veterans on June 12, 2018. Unlike the game's predecessors, she is unlockable instead of being available from the start. Zelda is classified as Fighter #17.

In a similar vein to her fellow Zelda fighters Link and Ganondorf, Zelda is now voiced by Ayumi Fujimura, who reprises her role from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds in all regions, replacing Jun Mizusawa from Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Super Smash Bros. 4. Similar to Star Fox characters in Melee, the former provides a single line of spoken Japanese dialogue in World of Light's opening; this line is dubbed in English by Brandy Kopp, who also voices Palutena.

Zelda is ranked 73rd out of 82 on the current tier list, placing her in the D- tier. This is a slight improvement from her 52nd/53rd out of 54 placement in SSB4 where she was tied with Ganondorf, and is her best placement in the series. She has a strong zoning tool in Phantom Slash, which is a very versatile move that can also start or finish combos, force approaches and apply pressure by controlling space, namely in ledge trapping. Zelda uses magic in her attacks, giving her solid disjointed range in general. She has an abundance of KO options, with power comparable to or exceeding that of heavyweights, despite being a lightweight; furthermore, she possesses the largest array of moves with transcendent priority, so her strongest attacks tend to create favorable trades if not outright beating out the opponent due to their priority. Several of them come out surprisingly fast for how powerful they are, and are effective out-of-shield options, most notoriously her Lightning Kick and Farore's Wind, the latter of which is also one of the best recovery moves in the game. She also has an outstanding array of throws, being able to combo with down throw until high percents and having two strong kill throws in her up and back throws.

Despite these strengths, Zelda has some notable weaknesses. Her mobility is abysmal; she has a low run speed, falling speed and gravity, and a laggy initial dash, leaving her with committal jumps, a poor approach and neutral game. Being tall makes her easier to hit, and being floaty with poor landing options makes her especially vulnerable to juggling; this gives her one of the worst disadvantage states in the game and only exacerbates her status as a lightweight. Despite having several powerful finishers, most of them are inconsistent, having very precise sweetspots that are notoriously difficult to land given her poor approach and mobility, weak sourspots that can even be punishable on hit, and/or high ending lag. She lacks moves that are safe on shield, most notably her aerials; the few moves that are safe require specific spacing or timing, which are difficult given her poor mobility. The range on several of her attacks is poor, limiting their utility. Almost all her normals are transcendent, which is a double-edged sword that gives her poor defense against projectiles and larger disjoints, since she cannot clank with them and easily loses to them. She also has a limited number of moves and rather small windows to confirm into other moves, forcing her to often rack up damage and secure KOs through Phantom setups or stray hits. She lacks fast, low-committal projectiles, making her susceptible to being outcamped; in general, all her special moves have high lag and can be punished hard if not used carefully.

Overall, Zelda plays a decent zoning game and a strong trapping game, with tools for ledge trapping and controlling space, but her precise hitboxes, inconsistency and poor mobility gives her a weak neutral and disadvantage state, making her a glass cannon with a focus on precision. Zelda is rarely seen in tournaments, but there have been dedicated players, such as Yn from Japan, Naskino in France, and Ven in the United States, with respectable results.

How to unlock[edit]

Complete one of the following:

Zelda must then be defeated on Temple (the Ω form is used in World of Light).

Attributes[edit]

Zelda is a tall, floaty lightweight character (weighing the same as Sora) with very poor mobility. While she has an above-average air speed, initial dash and traction, her jumps and air acceleration are below average, and she has the 22nd slowest walking speed, the 16th slowest falling speed, the 10th lowest gravity, and is tied with Byleth for the 9th slowest running speed in the game. Zelda's attacks are mostly based on magic, making most of them disjointed albeit short-ranged attacks. They also boast generally quick startup; all her normal attacks activate before frame 10, except for forward tilt, up aerial, down aerial, and forward smash. Despite her low weight, most of her attacks have immense KO potential and damage output, giving her power comparable to that of heavyweights. Due to these factors, Zelda can be generalized as a zoner glass cannon.

Zelda's ground game is notably safer than her aerial game due to generally being less committal and more consistent. She has decent close-quarters combat, namely in her down tilt, a short-ranged low-profiling poke, and up tilt, a large all-around anti-air; both are quick to execute combo-starters with long-lasting hitboxes. They often work in tandem with dash attack, which is her most important burst and punish option with excellent speed and large hitboxes. More situational is her neutral attack, which is her fastest move at frame 4; it can transition into a rapid jab for simple damage, or sometimes combo at high percents on its own, but is short-ranged, inconsistent at comboing and unsafe on shield. Forward tilt is the biggest outlier, being much slower with narrow hitboxes, but having a strong low-priority tipper; it can be used to space (especially on shield) at a longer range.

Though known for her broad power, Zelda's smash attacks are one of the few areas where she falls relatively average to below-average in strength, although they are all still respectable finishers. Her forward smash has a good horizontal disjoint with multiple hits; it is a decent option for catching ledge getups, and due to its rather low ending lag it can be hard to punish on shield, especially if spaced and/or charged. Up smash is similarly a powerful multi-hit; though laggier and having poor horizontal range, it has a fast startup (frame 9) that can punish poorly spaced moves on shield, and has a very long duration of 23 active frames, making it effective for catching getups and landings. Down smash is a simple leg sweep with average power, being one of her few non-magic attacks, but compensates by being very fast at frame 5 and executing relatively quickly; hitting on both sides, the foot sweetspots semi spike at a nasty launch angle that can set up edgeguards.

Zelda possesses among the most powerful set of aerials in the game; uniquely, a majority of them are highly polarized with high-risk and high-reward and limited usage in neutral, forcing her to play carefully in the air. Her forward and back aerials, known as her Lightning Kicks, are by far most polarized moves. Both have fast startup at frame 6 with an incredibly strong sweetspot at her toe, making them effective punishes and deadly out of shield options. However, the sweetspot is tiny and only active for one frame. Additionally, they have notable landing lag, ending lag and cannot auto-cancel in a short hop. Furthermore, the sourspots are pitifully weak, even being punishable on hit at most percents. This makes them very risky with poor utility in neutral. Down air is a similar move with a powerful single-frame sweetspot on her foot and very weak sourspots. Although slow to come out and weaker than her Lightning Kicks, the sweetspot meteor smashes and is much larger, and the sourspots linger for longer and always spike opponents downward, making them useful for gimping opponents. The clean hit has great utility in punishes, as hitting it on grounded opponents will can start a combo at nearly any percent for massive damage or a KO confirm.

Up aerial is Zelda's only truly consistent aerial, as it consists of a single large hitbox with consistently high knockback. A vertically disjointed explosion with excellent power, it has relatively low landing lag. While not very risky when falling, it has significant startup and ending lag and only covers the range above her, limiting its usage. Neutral aerial stands out as her only aerial to not have outstanding power or a notable sweetspot. Instead, as a multi-hit with many active frames hitting on both sides, it serves as her least committal, most versatile aerial. It can auto-cancel in a short hop, which with good execution can convert into an up tilt or dash attack at lower percents; it can also combo into a dash attack when fast-falled, and a single hit can pop grounded opponents up into a variety of confirms at virtually any percent, making it a versatile combo starter. Despite being her most important all-around aerial, it lacks an autolink angle, instead having a rather convoluted set of six hitboxes; their knockback and launch angles cause the move to be inconsistent and the launch direction to be difficult to control.

Overall, Zelda's aerials on their own can be awkward for spacing, air-to-air combat, and starting combos, instead functioning more strongly in conjunction with and as follow-ups to other moves. One of the moves that most boosts the potency of her aerials is her down special, Phantom Slash, which is also her most important tool. It's a unique projectile with a hurtbox and HP that she builds piece-by-piece, with its properties becoming increasingly strong by the charge, and she can have it attack before it is complete. The earliest stages are limited to zoning and body-blocking projectiles, but by the final stage, it has outstanding HP, speed, power and range. After just over a second, Zelda will be able to move freely, while the Phantom will attack automatically after about another second if it is not manually released, granting Zelda much flexibility during this window. She can attack in tandem with it in ledge traps and to mitigate the vulnerability of laggy moves; other usages include playing mind games with manual releases, punishing shielding opponents with grabs or shield break combos, and covering her own recovery and ledge getups. It is quite good at comboing into other moves or being a combo finisher itself, due to Zelda's moves having high hitlag. Phantom Slash forms the basis of Zelda's kit and is designed to compensate for Zelda's lackluster neutral, allowing her to gain stage control, cover options, pressure, zone and trap because of how much space it covers, how much damage it deals, and how many different mixups Zelda can do with it. However, Phantom's main weakness is that it cannot be charge-canceled, requiring Zelda to commit to either an early release or to wait until she is actionable. In addition, if she enters hitstun at any point before releasing the Phantom, it falls apart.

Outside Phantom Slash, the rest of her special moves take inspiration from the spells of the three Golden Goddesses that Link can use in Ocarina of Time. Her neutral special, Nayru's Love, is a reflector that doubles as a melee attack; it has a long duration and horizontal range on both sides of her, with full intangibility from frames 4-13 of the move, allowing it to beat out moves, disrupt strings, two-frame and edgeguard. However, the multi-hits can be inconsistent, and it is laggy, making it highly punishable. Din's Fire, her side special, is a slow ball of fire that becomes stronger and faster the farther it travels. While the explosion has a powerful sweetspot, its slow startup and predictable trajectory make it easy to avoid in most cases, and quite punishable if used in neutral. Instead, it is mostly used to gimp opponents with low resources. Her up special, Farore's Wind, is an outstanding offensive teleport, allowing her to recover in almost any off-stage situation. It is difficult to edgeguard and to two-frame due to its intangibility, omnidirectional distance and large, strong hitboxes. Like Palutena's Warp, she can avoid the move's ending lag by edge canceling, which grants her access to otherwise impossible movement options. It is also a fast, useful out of shield option, as the first hit can also be used on its own out of shield, or to further combo into the powerful reappearance hitbox. It can work as a burst option to punish laggy options or anti-zone from a distance, but due to its high ending lag, this option is usually very risky. While having unique uses in their own rights, her specials can be strategically be used with each other for creative setups and KOs.

Zelda has good range for her grab, with her pivot grab being one of the most disjointed in the game. While having notably slow startup, they have great reward in her throws. Forward throw is good at setting up edge guarding and ledge traps, while back and up throw are excellent kill throws and among the strongest of their kind. Down throw is most useful as a combo starter, and can reliably combo into neutral aerial, forward aerial or back aerial from low to mid percents. All her throws can lead into a set up Phantom with proper timing for high-damage combos or KO confirms, though forward and down throw are the most practical.

Despite her strengths, Zelda has significant weaknesses. Chief among them is her poor mobility, which hampers her ability to approach and move around safely. Her initial dash, for instance, is tied for the second laggiest in the game at 15 frames, which makes her unable to shield and rather vulnerable whenever she wants to move faster than walking. This mobility issue is exacerbated through numerous frame data issues, as many of her attacks, while quick to start up, have punishing amounts of end lag and precise hitboxes, making her approach telegraphed; her floatiness makes her air-to-ground transition poor and exacerbates the downsides of her already awkward aerials. Since she is tall and floaty, with no safe landing mixups or options to help her from ledge, she is very vulnerable to getting juggled and ledge trapped, contributing to one of the worst disadvantages in the game and compounding the endurance issues from her light weight. Other issues include poor range on her normals, limiting their utility, and extremely weak sourspots that can be punished on hit. Her combo game is average to subpar, as many of her moves have too much lag or unfavorable launch angles and knockback values for reliable follow-ups or wide combo windows. Due to this, she partially relies on Phantom to land stray KOs or start or finish combos for damage-racking. Some of her moves also have consistency issues, namely neutral aerial, Nayru's Love and some of the initial windboxes of Phantom Slash.

Finally, her special moves have exploitable weaknesses, as they are all committal and have varying degrees of punishable lag. With correct timing and spacing around the Phantom's possible attack ranges, opponents can punish Zelda by reading when she will use the move and preemptively closing in. If there is space, the opponent can also retreat to disengage, with Zelda not being able to do much about it except gaining some stage control. Especially against mobile characters, this forces her to play a neutral with her risky, short ranged neutral tools and subpar mobility.

Among favorable matchups, Zelda excels against slower characters with poor ground and aerial approaches where Phantom Slash can effectively wall them out (Ice Climbers), against large characters that become easy targets for her normally difficult-to-land sweetspots (King K. Rool), especially those without safe options on shield, enabling easy punishes with her deadly out of shield options (King Dedede), and against poor recoveries that are legitimately threatened by Din's Fire and Phantom (Ganondorf). Zelda's weaknesses cause her to struggle against quick opponents who can bait out her options, exploit her poor movement and keep her in disadvantage (Fox, Greninja, Zero Suit Samus), against characters that can outcamp her with projectiles that are fast and/or dwarf the Phantom's range (R.O.B., Young Link, Min Min), against characters with large disjoints who can beat out her transcendent moves (Cloud, Aegis), and against characters with better boxing options than her (Shotos).

Overall, Zelda's strengths include fast and powerful out of shield options, good stage control and ledge trapping with Phantom setups, and impressive kill power spread broadly across her moveset. Her weaknesses in mobility, range, frame data, consistency and sweetspot issues require her to be precise with how she spaces her attacks and to make the most out of Phantom ledge traps with proper reads and option coverage. She must be creative in her approaches to overcome her mobility issues when she does not have a lead, and in mixing up what she does to get out of disadvantage due to her floaty nature and lack of safe landing options.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4[edit]

Zelda had historically and consistently been regarded as one of the worst characters (and, at one point in Super Smash Bros. 4, the overall worst) in previous games, due to her combination of underwhelming frame data as a whole, a lackluster special moveset, bad hitbox placements, and an undesirable mix of attributes (slow, light, tall, and floaty). While SSB4 had brought updates to her offensive game, her weaknesses remained, causing her to remain unviable. Likely as a result of being a poorly regarded character in previous games, Zelda has been significantly buffed overall in the transition to Ultimate.

One of Zelda's biggest buffs is her improved moveset: many of her moves have either reduced lag, better KO potential, or other improvements. Most notably, her aerials have significantly reduced landing lag across the board, making them much more usable. The sweetspots of her kicks are significantly easier to land, and their improved auto-cancel window make them less risky to use; forward aerial's faster startup also makes it a much better out of shield option. Examples of significantly stronger moves include forward tilt, whose increased damage makes the sweetspot safe on shield and one of the strongest of its kind, and up aerial which is larger and stronger with a new late hit. Her already good grab game was improved to the point it is now among the most useful in the game; her back and up throws are much stronger, giving her two new viable kill throws among the strongest of their kind.

Zelda's special moveset, considered among the most situational in previous games, has seen various improvements. Din's Fire no longer causes helplessness, has an increased duration and has a larger sweetspot, making it more usable, albeit still situational. Farore's Wind has faster startup and execution and reduced vulnerability, making it a more effective out of shield and punish option; it has more precise angles for reappearance to follow opponent DI, making the "elevator" combo more likely to connect, while also being less unsafe if it doesn't. Phantom Slash is, however, her greatest buffed special and arguably her greatest buff from Smash 4 out of any of her moves. It has less lag and been heavily reworked to possess several more stages that cover a wider variety of ranges, improving its zoning usage, and the last stage allows Zelda to move around before it is unleashed, allowing for intricate trap setups and combos. The Phantom also no longer has any cooldown if destroyed, allowing it to be used much more frequently.

Additionally, Zelda noticeably benefits from some of the universal changes. Her horizontal movement has been improved (both absolutely and relative to the cast) in her increased run speed, air speed, air acceleration and initial dash. The universal 3-frame jumpsquats and reduced landing lag improve her noticeably, as they greatly supplement her neutral game, previously one of her main weaknesses. This allows her to approach more reliably and slightly improves her combo potential from fast falled aerials—most notably down aerial, which, due to the removal of teching grounded spikes, gives Zelda a plethora of new combos and kill confirms from the move. The changes to air dodging also benefit her, as they improve her edgeguarding game with moves like Din's Fire, which also improves her ledge trapping game by forcing low recoveries and allowing time for a Phantom set up.

However, Zelda has received some mixed changes and nerfs as well, most notably to the combo game of her normals. Neutral attack is drastically smaller and is no longer safe on shield nor has consistent combo potential, removing one of her best neutral and spacing tools. Down tilt is much smaller and has a considerably worse launch angle, hindering its combo ability past mid percents. Neutral aerial especially has been nerfed greatly, with the autolink removal and lower knockback harming the looping hits' consistency, completely removing their drag-down combos and making the launch direction drastically more difficult to control. Down throw's increase in knockback scaling, combined with its more horizontal launch angle removes its 50/50s at high percents.

Other nerfs include her forward tilt, which is much more precise due to its slower startup and narrow hitboxes, and due to the sweetspot losing highest priority and being drastically harder to land, the move is arguably weaker on average despite the damage buffs. Down aerial's late hit is worse at gimping due to its smaller hitboxes. Zelda's dash and pivot grabs, already below-average in speed, have received even more startup, although her pivot grab has very large range for a non-tether grab and both of them have less ending lag. Farore's Wind is weaker, making the sweetspot especially worse at early KOs, cannot travel as far and is much harder to edge cancel with, hindering one of her movement options.

Although Zelda benefits from some of the changes to the game's engine, other changes have impaired her as well. The new knockback speed-up effect further limits her already nerfed combo moves, as knockback was sped up more than her mobility was increased. The increased shieldstun both helps and hinders Zelda, as it allows her moves to be more safely spaced, but combined with the universal reductions to landing lag (despite aerials having less shieldstun) and nerfs to shield drop lag and grabs out of shieldstun, it also slightly worsens her out of shield game in some cases. Her air dodges are also now much laggier than average, which worsens her disadvantage state.

Overall, Zelda's moveset has been enhanced from previous installments, making her strengths more defined, especially around Phantom Slash as the new crux of her game plan. The changes overall allow Zelda to fare better than in previous installments, with this incarnation being her strongest one yet. However, she still underperforms compared to the rest of the cast. Nerfs to her combo tools, consistency and precision have tempered her buffs by effectively transferring many of her other moves' usages to Phantom, centralizing her playstyle around the reworked move. Game updates have brought her quality-of-life improvements, mostly making several moves across the board even stronger, while failing to address Zelda's core weaknesses. She still suffers from her more problematic attributes, i.e. her laggy initial dash, low fall speed, low gravity and low weight. Most significantly, many of her normals are worse compared to previous iterations, suffering from lack of utility due to impractically small hitboxes, poor or inconsistent follow-up potential, punishable sourspots and/or heavy ending lag.

Aesthetics[edit]

  • Change Zelda's appearance is based on her design from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past,[1][2][3] and A Link Between Worlds,[4] with her overall design being a combination of the two.[5] Her slightly smaller eyes, red necklace, more detailed epaulets, belt and bracers, and the white dress is from A Link to the Past, while her crown, bangs, and the pink dress are from A Link Between Worlds. The color scheme of her Twilight Princess design (which was her default in Brawl and Smash 4) is now the basis for an alternate costume.
    • Change Consequently, Zelda's hair and the jewel of her crown are once again blonde and red respectively, as opposed to brown and blue respectively, with the former being no longer tied at the bottom, similar to her predecessor in Melee; her eyes are larger; her epaulets are smaller; she wears a crimson, gem-like necklace; a sleeved, white dress with a cape and a sleeveless, pink dress with a yellow, Triforce embroidery, as opposed to a purple bodice and a white silk skirt; a more traditional, crimson belt with golden ornaments instead of a gold metallic belt with a tapestry; pants under her dress; bracers with being bare-handed instead of gloves; and high heels instead of boots.
    • Change As a result of her design change, many of Zelda's basic animations have been altered, including her standing pose, idle poses, and walking animations. All of these animations depict her as very cheerful and somewhat mischievous, making her far more expressive than her SSB4 incarnation, which rarely showed any emotion.
    • Change Zelda has an updated Palutena's Guidance conversation to coincide with the design change.
  • Change Many of Zelda's alternate costumes have been altered:
    • Change The skirt of her red and blue costumes are now white, instead of maroon and navy respectively.
    • Change Her black costume now features a purple gradation at the edges of the sleeve and the skirt.
    • Change The skirt of her Ocarina of Time-inspired costume is now lavender and violet, instead of white and dark purple, better matching the coloration of the original.
  • Change Zelda always faces the screen regardless of which direction she turns, causing all of her animations to be mirrored.
  • Change All of Zelda's taunts have been altered:
    • Change Her up taunt is entirely new; she draws a cross pattern with magic akin to her grab from her fingertips, uttering a short grunt similar to Daisy's down taunt.
    • Change Her side taunt has a faster and flashier animation.
    • Change Her down taunt is a more casual and joyful wave.
  • Change Zelda hangs onto ledges with one hand.
  • Change Zelda's dress has independent physics.
  • Change Many of Zelda's attacks produce brighter, flashier magical effects.
  • Change All of Zelda's victory poses are completely new:
    • Change For the left-inputted pose, she conjures a small flame out of her finger and swirls it around playfully, akin to Lucas' right-inputted victory pose.
    • Change For the right-inputted pose, she summons the Phantom armor and proudly poses in front of it.
    • Change For the up-inputted pose, she emits magic out of two fingers and points at the screen.
  • Change Zelda is significantly more vocal.
    • Change She vocalizes in all of her taunts and victory poses; she giggles during her down taunt and new up-inputted victory pose; makes a Kiai noise during her side taunt; makes a breath during her new right-inputted pose.
    • Change Zelda vocalizes upon waking up from sleep status when not suffering from any knockback, similar to a few other characters such as Palutena and Cloud. She shares this addition with Link, Ganondorf and Wolf.
    • Change Zelda's voice clips, in general, sounding significantly more dynamic and exaggerated than her predecessors, in a similar vein to Pit and Ike in their transition from Brawl. For instance, her attack and knockback voice clips are louder compared to their Brawl/Smash 4 counterparts, while stun and sleeping voice clips are quieter and longer.

Attributes[edit]

  • Buff Like all characters, Zelda's jumpsquat takes 3 frames to complete (down from 6).
  • Buff Zelda runs faster (1.3 → 1.43).
    • Buff Her initial dash speed is also much faster (1.6 → 1.958). This improves her approach on the ground and gives her an above-average foxtrot.
  • Buff Zelda walks slightly faster (0.87 → 0.914).
  • Buff Zelda's air speed is slightly faster (1.04 → 1.092).
  • Buff Zelda's traction is much higher (0.054 → 0.116).
  • Change Zelda's full hop has less air time (62 frames → 57). This allows her to land faster, but reduces her window to use aerials.
  • Nerf Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-17 → 4-15).
  • Nerf Back roll has more startup with less intangibility (frames 4-17 → 5-16), and more ending lag (FAF 31 → 36).
  • Buff Spot dodge has less ending lag (FAF 28 → 27).
  • Nerf Spot dodge grants less intangibility (frames 3-18 → 3-17).
  • Buff Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 3-28 → 3-30).
  • Nerf Air dodge has significantly more ending lag (FAF 34 → 57).

Ground attacks[edit]

  • Neutral attack:
    • Buff It has significantly less startup lag (frame 11 → 4), now being her fastest move and no longer being the slowest neutral attack in the game.
    • Nerf The third hit has been removed. Combined with the move's faster startup, this makes the move much less safe on shield and eliminates its combo potential at low percents.
      • Buff However, neutral attack has gained a rapid jab with a finisher, which can be transitioned into after the second hit. This partially compensates for the lost third hit by having similar damage output and higher KO potential.
    • Nerf The first two hits deal less damage (3% → 2.5%). With the removal of the third hit, it deals much less total damage (11% → 5%).
    • Buff The first hit lasts for 2 frames, up from 1.
    • Change The first two hits have a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.6×), which, with the removal of the third hit, makes the move execute faster on hit and harder to react to.
    • Change They have more horizontal launch angles (361°/140°/140° → 361°/361°/180°), with only the outermost hitbox sending inward now.
      • Change The outermost hit uses a separate outward angle (361°) for non-fighter targets, preventing Zelda from launching incoming items and projectiles toward herself.
      • Buff Due to the inner two hits both using the Sakurai angle, they can now jab lock and trip until high percents. The outermost hit can do so at any percent due to never lifting opponents off the ground.
    • Change It no longer has set knockback (40/30 set/100 scaling → 25 base/35/30/20 scaling (hit 1), 40/25 base/25/20/25 scaling (hit 2)). The second hit has gained a hitstun modifier of 2.
      • Buff This makes the inner hits deal more knockback at high percents, giving them jab cancel setups.
      • Nerf Compared to the inner hits, the outermost hit has notably lower knockback, making it negative on hit until high percents and unable to jab cancel until unrealistically extreme percents. This makes the move riskier to use without transitioning into the rapid jab, and makes its jab cancel ability inconsistent.
      • Nerf The knockback scaling eventually makes the move fail to connect fully, though this only occurs at ridiculous percents.
    • Nerf It has smaller hitboxes (3.2u/3.2u/4u (hits 1-2), 3.6u/3.6u/6u (hit 3) → 2.4u/2.4u/3.2u (hit 1), 3u/3.2u/3.5u (hit 2)). They are positioned closer to Zelda (z-offset 5.5u/9.5u/13u (all hits) → 4u/7u/10u (hit 1), 5u/8u/11.5u (hit 2)), drastically reducing the move's horizontal range and spacing utility.
      • Nerf The hitboxes are positioned lower (y-offset 12.5u (all) → 12u/12u/11.8u (hit 1), 11.8u/11.8u/11.5u (hit 2)), worsening their range above Zelda while not improving their reach below due to their smaller sizes.
      • Buff However, there is a new hitbox in front of Zelda's lower body, improving its ability to hit shorter opponents at point-blank range.
  • Forward tilt:
    • Nerf It has more startup lag (frame 10 → 12).
    • Buff It has a shorter total duration (FAF 38 → 37), effectively reducing the ending lag by 3 frames due to the increased startup.
    • Buff Forward tilt no longer has a blind spot directly in front of Zelda. Instead, if she is close to another character, her lunge animation will push her backwards to allow the hitbox to connect.
    • Nerf It uses five small hitboxes (2.1u/2.2u/2.3u/2.4u/2.5u) instead of three medium-sized ones (3u/3.5u/4u). This makes it much narrower, reducing its vertical range.
      • Buff However, the outer hitbox is positioned farther out (x-offset 3.5u → 6.2u), improving its disjoint.
    • Buff It deals more damage (12% → 15% (sweetspot), 10% → 11.5% (sourspot), which with its lower ending lag makes it safer on shield.
      • Buff The knockback was not fully compensated on the sweetspot (50 base/88 scaling → 72/69), significantly increasing its KO potential, especially near the horizontal blast zone.
      • Buff The sourspot has more base knockback (50 → 72), but significantly less knockback scaling (88 → 68). With its higher damage, its KO potential is slightly higher overall, especially near the horizontal blast zone, but is slightly worse from across stage.
    • Nerf The three sourspot hitboxes take priority over the two sweetspot hitboxes, making the sweetspots much harder to land, especially with the aforementioned size reduction.
    • Change The inner sweetspot hitbox has the same sound effect as the sourspots, despite having identical strength to the outer sweetspot.
  • Up tilt:
    • Buff Up tilt has a longer hitbox duration (frames 7-18 → 7-19), allowing it to hit opponents lying down.
    • Buff The outermost hitbox is larger (5u → 5.5u), improving its range.
  • Down tilt:
    • Buff Down tilt has less ending lag (FAF 25 → 22).
    • Nerf It has 3 small unextended hitboxes (2.6u/2.6u/2.6u) instead of 1 medium-sized extended one (3.6u). Instead of being attached to her leg, they are now static hitboxes positioned closer to each other. Overall this notably reduces its range.
    • Nerf It sends opponents at a much lower angle (80° → 62°), and has less base knockback (20 → 15), but more knockback scaling (120 → 125). This greatly worsens its combo potential at low and high percents, and no longer has a guaranteed set-up into up aerial.
      • Buff However, this allows it to combo more reliably into a dash attack and forward aerial at mid percents in combination with its lower ending lag and Zelda's faster jumpsquat.
  • Dash attack:
    • Buff Dash attack's sweetspot is larger (2.2u → 2.8u) and is now extended (z-offset: 12.8 → 12.6-13.2). Its other hitboxes are also larger (5u (sourspot)/4.8u (late hit) → 5.2u/5u), but their horizontal ranges were compensated on the far side (z-offset 7.8-13.8 → 7.8-13.6). Overall this improves the move's range, especially for the sweetspot.
    • Buff The late hit has a longer duration (frames 8-10 → 8-12).
    • Buff Dash attack has less ending lag (FAF 40 → 36).
  • Forward smash:
    • Buff The looping hits have been moved farther out (Z offset: 8/16 → 9/17), as has its final hitboxes (Z offset: 9.5/16 → 10.5/17), increasing its horizontal range while not introducing a blind spot due to the new jostle mechanics.
    • Buff The looping hits use an autolink angle (25°/165° → 366°) and have higher set knockback (40/50 → 60/60), improving their consistency.
    • Buff The final hit is slightly larger (5.5u/6u → 5.7u/6u).
  • Up smash:
    • Buff The looping hits are larger (3.5u/3.5u/3.5u/4.2u → 3.5u/4u/4u/4.6u) and are positioned higher (y-offset 11u/17u/17u/18u → 12u/18u/18u/19u), improving its range.
      • Nerf However, this slightly decreases its lower reach. Combined with jostling, it is more difficult to punish lower opponents out of shield.
    • Buff The looping hits use continuous hitboxes with a rehit rate, significantly reducing the gaps between its hits (frame 9/12/15/18/25/28/31 → 9-23/25-32 (rehit rate 4)).
      • Nerf However, this causes it to have only six looping hits, down from seven, reducing up smash's total damage (15.4% → 14.6%).
    • Change The side looping hits use different and higher launch angles for grounded and aerial opponents (200° → 100° (grounded)/160° (aerial)) and have different set knockback (40 → 60 (grounded)/20 (aerial)), allowing them to connect more reliably against aerial opponents, but no longer pulling in opponents standing on either side of her as easily.
    • Change The first four looping hits have lower knockback scaling (105 → 100), and the top looping hit has lower set knockback (40 → 20).
    • Buff The final hit has more knockback scaling (214 → 222), improving its KO potential.
    • Nerf The side hitboxes for the final hit are smaller (7.5u/7.5u → 6.5u/6.5u).
  • Down smash:
    • Buff Down smash has higher knockback scaling (86 (front)/96 (back) → 89/100), improving its KO potential.

Aerial attacks[edit]

  • Buff All aerials have less landing lag (19 frames → 12 (neutral), 23 → 15 (forward), 25 → 16 (back), 19 → 12 (up), 18 → 12 (down)).
  • Change Lightning Kicks and down aerial have unique sound effects when used.
  • Neutral aerial:
    • Change Neutral aerial has altered hitlag (1× (all) → 0.6× (looping hits)/2× (last hit)).
    • Nerf Neutral aerial is vulnerable to SDI again (0× → 0.8× (looping hits), 1× (last hit)).
    • Buff The looping hits use weight-independent knockback.
    • Change The looping hits now use different hitboxes for aerial versus grounded opponents.
    • Nerf On aerial opponents, instead of 2 medium hitboxes, the looping hits now consist of 4 small extended hitboxes (4.7u/4.7u → 1.5u/1.5u/1.5u/1.5u). This gives them much less range in the z-axis, being significantly narrower than even a Lightning Kick sweetspot. Additionally, due to being extended, they no longer interpolate.
      • Nerf They no longer use the autolink angle (366° → 132°/230° (front), 152°/210° (back)), causing the move to connect less reliably. Due to the angles constantly sending in toward Zelda's opposite side and no longer matching her movement, the opponent's final launch position and direction are far less controllable, making follow-ups more difficult, especially from an auto-canceled short hop.
      • Nerf The aerial hitboxes have drastically lower knockback and thus hitstun (75 set/100 scaling → 30 base/10 scaling (bottom hits), 15 base/10 scaling (top hits)). This makes it much easier for the opponent to punish Zelda if they fall out of the looping hits, and completely removes neutral aerial’s drag-down combo potential at realistic percents despite the move’s lower landing lag.
    • Nerf On grounded opponents, the looping hits' angles send more outward from Zelda (80° → 70°), making it harder to connect subsequent hits.
      • Nerf They also no longer use set knockback (75 set/100 scaling → 50 base/80 scaling), now sending into tumble at higher percents. Combined with the new knockback speed-up effect, at higher percents it becomes harder or even impossible to fully connect the move against grounded opponents, due to the first hit sending them too far.
      • Buff However, the angle and knockback changes improve a single hit's combo potential on grounded opponents if used in a fast fall, especially the higher their percent.
      • Change Due to the removal of set knockback, the front hit's higher damage now makes it stronger than the back hit.
      • Buff The hitboxes are slightly larger (4.7u → 5u).
      • Change The hitboxes have altered positions (y-offset 11 (front)/12 (back) → 10/13, z-offset 7.6/-6 → 7.6/-5).
    • Buff The hand hitboxes for the final hit are larger (4u → 5u) and have altered positions (y-offset 11 (front)/12 (back) → 9/13.5, z-offset 7.6/-6 → 8.5/-7), increasing their range.
    • Change The last hit has less base knockback (40 → 35), allowing it to combo for longer, but reducing its KO potential.
  • Lightning Kick:
    • Change Zelda now uses a specific voice clip when performing either her forward or back aerial; it somewhat resembles Fox, Falco, Pit and Dark Pit's voice clips when they perform Fox Illusion, Falco Phantasm, Palutena Bow and Silver Bow respectively.
    • Change On top of the magic effect, the sweetspots now have additional unique lightning effects on hit. These are purely aesthetic and not to be confused with the electric effect.
    • Buff The sweetspot hitboxes are now static instead of being attached to Zelda's toe. They are slightly larger (1.9u → 2.2u) and extend into the Z-axis (X offset: -1–1), making it easier to land and preventing it from missing due to opponents leaning into the Z-axis.
  • Forward aerial:
    • Buff Forward aerial has less startup (frame 9 → 6), with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 53 → 50).
    • Buff It auto-cancels earlier (frame 50 → 43), although still not fast enough to auto-cancel in a short hop.
    • Nerf Its initial auto-cancel window is shorter (frames 1-3 → 1-2).
  • Back aerial:
    • Buff Back aerial has less ending lag (FAF 53 → 50).
    • Buff It auto-cancels earlier (frame 52 → 45).
    • Buff The sourspots have a longer duration (6-9 → 6-10).
    • Buff The sweetspot has more base knockback (28 → 30).
  • Up aerial:
    • Buff Up aerial has a new late hit that deals 12%, doubling the move's hitbox duration (frames 14-16 → 14-16 (clean)/17-19 (late)).
    • Buff The hitbox is larger (8u → 9u).
    • Change Its hitbox is higher up (Y offset: 23 → 26.5). Combined with its larger size, this noticeably improves its range above Zelda, but introduces a blindspot and makes it very hard (or even impossible) to hit grounded opponents onstage.
    • Buff It has more base knockback (30 → 55), but less knockback scaling (84 → 73 (clean)/70 (late)). Overall, it KOs earlier, especially near the top blast zone.
    • Buff It auto-cancels slightly earlier (frame 55 → 54), with its auto-cancel window no longer exceeding its animation length.
    • Nerf It has a new animation which is longer than the previous one (54 frames → 63). This increases the amount of time Zelda cannot grab the ledge after using the move although the move has interruptibility frames to compensate for its total duration.
  • Down aerial:
    • Buff Down aerial's clean hit is larger, and has an additional hitbox that covers Zelda's lower leg, giving it more range (4u → 4.2u/4u). They are also positioned farther up and down (X offset: 0 → 2/-1). This removes its blind spot and makes it easier to land.
    • Nerf The late hit has smaller hitboxes (6u/6u → 5u/5u), reducing its range and worsening its gimping potential.
    • Buff The removal of teching for grounded meteor smashes improves down aerial's combo potential onstage, combined with its reduced landing lag.

Throws and other attacks[edit]

  • Change Zelda's animation when holding a Super Scope or Gust Bellows has been altered, as she now holds the item in a manner similar to a rifle.
  • Grabs:
    • Nerf Standing grab has more ending lag (FAF 38 → 40).
    • Nerf Dash and pivot grabs have more startup lag (frame 11 → 13 (dash), 14 (pivot)).
      • Buff However, dash grab's total duration was not fully compensated (FAF 47 → 48), giving it one frame less ending lag.
    • Nerf Dash grab has less range (Z2 offset: 14.5u → 13.3u).
    • Buff Pivot grab has significantly increased range (Z2 offset: -16.7u → -19.2u), becoming one of the farthest-reaching non-tether pivot grabs in the game.
    • Buff Pivot grab has less ending lag (FAF 45 → 43).
  • Pummel:
    • Buff Pummel deals more hitlag (5 frames → 14), but has significantly less startup (frame 7 → 2) and ending lag (FAF 25 → 8), shortening its duration.
    • Nerf It deals much less damage (3% → 1.3%).
    • Change Zelda grabs and pummels opponents with one hand instead of two.
  • Change Forward, back, and up throws have altered animations, and Zelda's hands emit brighter trails of magic. The speed of these throws no longer depends on the opponent's weight, making them slower for lighter opponents and faster for heavier opponents.
  • Forward throw:
    • Nerf Forward throw deals less damage (12% → 10%) and knockback (70 base/50 scaling → 100/30). This significantly hinders its KO potential despite launching at a lower angle (45° → 42°), to the point it can no longer KO under 215% even near the edge.
      • Change However, the changes to up throw more than compensate due to KOing earlier from any point on stage.
      • Buff The low knockback scaling now gives Zelda a consistent throw to combo into a delayed Phantom.
  • Back throw:
    • Buff Back throw deals more damage (11% → 12%) and has less base knockback (80 → 40), but more knockback scaling (60 → 90), greatly improving its KO potential, especially from center stage.
  • Up throw:
    • Buff Up throw has much higher knockback scaling (60 → 82), allowing it to KO middleweights at around 150%, while in SSB4, it was unable to KO until around 200%.
    • Buff It has increased combo potential due to Zelda's faster jumpsquat and jump speed.
    • Change It sends opponents at a marginally less vertical angle (88° → 87°).
  • Down throw:
    • Buff Down throw's four looping hits deal more damage (1% → 1.5%), increasing its total damage (6% → 8%).
    • Change The looping hits use the fire effect instead of magic.
    • Nerf It has less base knockback (85 → 75), but more knockback scaling (55 → 85), marginally increasing its combo potential at lower percents in combination with Zelda's faster jumpsquat and jump speed while reducing it at higher percents.
    • Nerf It has marginally more ending lag (FAF 70 → 71) and sends opponents at a less vertical angle (100° → 104°), leaving it unable to combo into an up aerial at low-mid percents and further hindering its follow-up potential at high percents.
      • Nerf Due to the more outward angle, neutral aerial is a less reliable follow-up on DI away, forcing the user to use a lightning kick instead, which is much more precise.
  • Edge attack:
    • Buff Edge attack deals more damage (7% → 9%).

Special moves[edit]

  • Nayru's Love:
    • Buff It no longer halts vertical momentum, allowing Zelda to move in the air while using the move.
    • Buff Its intangibility starts one frame earlier (frame 5 → 4).
    • Nerf Its reflective hitbox has a shorter duration (frames 5-43 → 5-41). The intangibility also ends two frames earlier, reducing its duration by one frame (frames 5-15 → 4-13).
    • Buff The hitboxes have less startup lag (frame 13 → 11), with their total duration reduced as well (FAF 60 → 58).
    • Buff The inner looping hit is larger (6u → 8.5u) and positioned lower (y-offset 8 → 7). This allows it to hit below stage.
      • Nerf However, the inner looping hit does not stretch as far (z-offset -4 to 4 → -0.5 to 0.5), slightly reducing the looping hits' horizontal range against aerial opponents.
      • Change The final hit now has less vertical range than the looping hits, increasing the chance of the move not connecting fully.
  • Din's Fire:
    • Buff Din's Fire no longer leaves Zelda helpless in the air.
    • Change Zelda has a lower gravity upon using the move (0.019 → 0.012).
    • Buff It has improved maneuverability (angle addition per frame 1.375° → 1.645°, maximum angle 74.5° → 78°).
    • Buff It travels a slightly longer distance.
    • Buff The explosion's duration is longer (2 frames → 6 frames).
    • Buff Its hitboxes are larger, especially the sweetspot (2.1u → 3.5u (sweetspot), 4.5u → 4.8u (sourspot)).
    • Change The flame has a more stylized appearance.
  • Farore's Wind:
    • Buff Farore's Wind's first hit has less startup lag (frame 8 → 6), improving its out of shield utility. It also has a longer duration (1 frame → 2).
    • Nerf Zelda's speed is reduced on the move's startup, making her easier to hit and reducing the added distance from a jump.
    • Buff Zelda disappears faster (frame 21 → 17), and consequently begins her teleport sooner.
    • Buff Zelda has more precise angles of teleport direction, allowing her to land its second hit on enemies who DI the initial hit.
    • Nerf Its teleport duration is shorter (20 frames → 18), slightly decreasing its maximum distance.
      • Buff However, in conjunction with the faster startup, this makes the second hit come out faster (frame 41-42 → 35-36) and the move interruptible sooner (FAF 81 → 76).
      • Buff The intangibility duration is marginally shorter (frames 21-39 → 17-34) but is no longer shorter than the teleport duration. Furthermore, there is no longer a single frame of vulnerability before the reappearance hitbox comes out.
    • Change It shows small green orbs that follow Zelda's path during her teleport.
    • Change A more intense green/yellow vortex is produced at the start and end of the move.
    • Nerf The second hit has less base knockback (90 (sweetspots)/70 (sourspots) → 80/60), with only the aerial version's sweetspot having its knockback scaling compensated, though not fully (90 → 94). This hinders its KO potential, especially near the side blast zones for the grounded hits and the top blast zone for the aerial hits.
    • Nerf Due to her higher traction, Zelda does not slide as far on the ground on reappearance, making edge canceling significantly harder.
    • Buff Zelda can drift and fast fall in the air much sooner after reappearing, reducing her vulnerability.
  • Phantom Slash:
    • Change Phantom Slash has been heavily reworked. The Phantom armor assembles itself behind Zelda rather than appearing fully formed out of a portal in front of her. It is a single-press chargeable move; pressing the special move button again will cause the incomplete armor to attack at its current charge level. The move has seven charge levels, with five different types of attacks:
      • 1st: Kick (frame 15)
      • 2nd: Punch (frame 20)
      • 3rd: Outward slash (frame 28)
      • 4th: Overhead slash (frame 38)
      • 5th: Upward slash (frame 50, can be delayed up to frame 120)
    • Buff Most notably, the new overhead slash makes it harder for opponents to jump over the Phantom to punish Zelda during the move's charge.
      • Buff Combined with the Phantom's much faster charge, the move has significantly improved zoning utility.
    • Buff If she doesn't release the Phantom, Zelda can now move freely starting on frame 67 while the Phantom remains in place. This creates a significant overlap between frames 67 and 120 where Zelda can simultaneously move freely and manually release the fully charged Phantom at any moment.
      • Buff Zelda can use the Phantom's automatic release on frame 120 as a trap and attack the opponent in tandem with the trap, retreat behind the Phantom for protection, or use the large window of manual release versus waiting as a mind game. This improves Zelda's neutral game and advantage state, and also discourages the opponent from reflecting the Phantom since she has enough time to respond with Nayru's Love.
    • Buff All attacks have a longer hitbox duration, and all after the first also have less startup (frame 11 (1st), 13-14 (2nd), 18-19, 24-27 (3rd) → frames 11-12 (kick), 8-12 (punch), 8-11 (outward/overhead slash), 7-17 (upward slash)).
    • Buff Releasing the Phantom has less ending lag (FAF 47 → 40).
    • Buff There is no longer a cooldown if the Phantom is destroyed. Once the armor disappears, the move can be used again immediately, improving the Phantom's bodyblocking utility.
    • Buff The Phantom's windboxes are stronger, especially for the highest charges. This improves the move's consistency and gimping potential.
    • Nerf Phantom Slash deals less damage overall, especially when fully charged (≈6%-≈8% (1st level), ≈11%-≈15% (2nd), ≈24% total (3rd) → 5.9% (kick), 8.2% (punch), 10.5%/11.8% (outward slash), 14.1%/15.4% (overhead slash), 17.7% (upward slash)), as the fully charged hit only hits once. It has also received negative shield damage (0 → -1, -1.5, -2, -2.5, -3).
    • Nerf The Phantom charges behind Zelda instead of in front, leaving her more vulnerable since it has to travel a short distance before it can hit in front of her.
    • Change The last level has more base knockback (32 → 60), but less knockback scaling (100 → 75), and launches at a lower angle (50° → 46°). This make it better for KOing at the ledge, but worse from afar.
  • Final Smash:
    • Change Zelda has a new Final Smash called Triforce of Wisdom. She magically opens a glowing, triangular portal that sucks in the opponent and immobilizes them while dealing damage. If the opponent is at or above 100% damage before the portal closes, they are "sealed away" and instantly KO'd; otherwise, they receive set knockback. Other opponents above 100% damage can be launched significantly if they are within a certain radius of the portal when it closes.
    • Buff Compared to Light Arrow, Triforce of Wisdom has a significantly longer duration and more range covering the entire stage, making it almost impossible to avoid. It also deals more total damage (40% → 67%).
    • Nerf Triforce of Wisdom can only trap one opponent, making it less effective in battles with more than two players.
    • Change Triforce of Wisdom does not produce the Home-Run Bat sound effect, unlike Light Arrow.

Update history[edit]

Zelda has been buffed overall via game updates, receiving the biggest changes in update 7.0.0, followed by update 13.0.0. A majority of the changes focused on augmenting the power of her kill moves, with up smash, down smash, up aerial, and especially forward tilt and down special being stronger compared to release. Hitbox buffs made up aerial, down aerial's clean hit and Din's Fire's sweetspot larger, and increased the hitbox duration of up aerial and Din's Fire. Slight frame data buffs reduced the ending lag of her jab by 1 frame and the landing lag of neutral aerial by 3 frames. Multihit angle changes made forward smash more consistent; while also intending to do the same for neutral aerial, its angle changes were a mixed bag in practice, only improving its consistency in some cases, but making the final hit's launch direction much more volatile and thus making auto-cancel combos more difficult.

Aside from the mixed change to neutral aerial's angles, Zelda has also received two minor nerfs, though negligible as the first was eventually negated, and the second was a reversal of a very brief unintended bug. In update 3.0.0, Phantom's shield damage was reduced, but the later 7.0.0 damage buff completely compensated for this. In update 9.0.2, a bugfix removed a shadow buff from the 9.0.1 patch that allowed Zelda to displace the Phantom much more easily, specifically to spawn it in front of her to grant more protection during the charge.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 3.0.0

  • Nerf Phantom Slash deals less shield damage (0 (all) → -1 (1st charge)/-1.5 (2nd charge)/-2 (3rd charge)/-2.5 (4th charge)/-3 (5th charge)).

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 4.0.0

  • Change Medium and fast walking animations have been adjusted to prevent her dress from clipping.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 7.0.0

  • Buff Overall shield size has been increased.
  • Buff Forward tilt deals more damage (10%/12% → 11.5%/15%), with knockback scaling not fully compensated (70/70 → 68/69). This significantly improves its KO potential to the point it is even stronger than in Smash 4, with the sweetspot KOing at around 120% from the center of Final Destination.
  • Change Neutral aerial's looping hits launch aerial opponents at more horizontal angles (92°/270°/92°/270° → 132°/230°/152°/210°), causing them to connect more reliably if Zelda is drifting away, but less reliably when Zelda is rising or falling.
    • Nerf Due to now sending toward Zelda's opposite side, the final hit's launch direction is much more volatile. This makes follow-ups more difficult, especially from an auto-canceled short hop.
  • Buff Neutral aerial has less landing lag (15 frames → 12), matching its Brawl counterpart. This improves its combo potential, making KO setups into Lightning Kicks more reliable.
  • Buff Up aerial has a bigger hitbox (8u → 9u), increasing its range.
  • Buff Up aerial's clean hit has more knockback scaling (70 → 73).
  • Buff Up aerial has a new late hit that increases its duration (frames 14-16 → 14-19), and deals less damage (17% → 12%) with knockback not compensated.
  • Buff Din's Fire's sweetspot is larger (2.6u → 3.5u), and the explosion's hitbox is active for longer (4 frames → 6).
  • Buff Phantom Slash deals more damage on all charges (4.7% → 5.9% (level 1), 6.6% → 8.2% (level 2), 8.5%/9.4% → 10.5%/11.8% (level 3), 11.3%/12.2% → 14.1%/15.4% (level 4), 14.1% → 17.7% (level 5)), with knockback scaling partly compensated on the highest two charges (60 → 57 (level 4), 75 → 68 (level 5)).

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 9.0.2

  • Bug fix Fixed an issue where Zelda's momentum after using Phantom in the air was different from what was intended.
    • Nerf This means she can no longer exploit this bug to improve the move's safety.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 10.1.0

  • Buff Forward smash has received various adjustments that allow the move to connect more reliably:
    • Buff The first four hits send at an autolink angle (25°/165 → 366° (both)) and have more set knockback (40/50 → 60 (both)).
      • Nerf This tends to pull opponents toward the center of the near hitbox. In the majority of cases, this marginally reduces the move's KO potential compared to before.
    • Buff The last hit's hitbox at Zelda's arm is slightly larger (5.5u → 5.7u).
    • Buff All hits have received a -100% trip chance, preventing them from tripping opponents and missing subsequent hits due to the trip's intangibility.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 11.0.0

  • Change Changed the length of vulnerability when crumpling to be consistent with other fighters.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 13.0.0

  • Buff The first hit of neutral attack has less ending lag (FAF 25 → 24).
  • Buff Neutral infinite's loop hits deal more damage (0.2% → 0.4%).
  • Buff Up smash has higher knockback scaling (214 → 222).
  • Buff Down smash has higher knockback scaling (86 (front)/96 (back) → 89/100).
  • Buff Down aerial's clean hit has a larger hitbox (3.2u/3u → 4.2u/4u).

Moveset[edit]

For a gallery of Zelda's hitboxes, see here.

Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.

  Name Damage Description
Neutral attack Short Flash (ショートフラッシュ) / Rapid Flash (ラピッドフラッシュ) / Flash Finish (フラッシュフィニッシュ) 2.5% (hits 1-2) Extends her palm to emit a burst of magical energy, then optionally follows up with a series of several magical bursts before a finishing blast, which can KO near the edge. Unlike in the previous games, where it was the slowest jab at frame 11, it is now her fastest move at frame 4. It no longer has a third hit, but can start combos on its own at high percents with certain hitboxes.
0.4% (loop), 3% (end)
Forward tilt Magical Cutter (マジカルカッター) 15% (hand, blade), 11.5% (arm) A magically-infused outward knifehand strike. It can be angled and has two sweetspots at the tip that possess great power. It has three sourspots located on Zelda's arm that take priority over the sweetspots, being noticeably weaker but still having above-average KO power. Its high base knockback makes it especially potent at early KOs near the ledge. The sweetspots KO middleweights at around 83% while near the edge of Final Destination, and the sourspots KO at around 109%. It's safe on shield when spaced with the sweetspot. However, it has noticeable startup lag at frame 12 with an active duration of only two frames, as well as having strict priority and small and narrow hitboxes, making it hard to sweetspot, or even land at all on small or crouching characters, or opponents in the air.
Up tilt Barricader (バリケーダー) 7.2% Waves her arm in an overhead arcing motion while her hand is infused with magical energy. Due to it hitting on frame 7 and having a long active duration and low ending lag, it is one of Zelda's most reliable combo starters. It can combo into itself, neutral attack and up smash at low percentages, into neutral aerial as well as Lightning Kick from low to medium percentages, and into up aerial at medium percentages out of a reversed up tilt. Its combo potential increases the later the frame on which it hits. It is also a strong anti-air attack thanks to its disjoint, large hitbox and long duration.
Down tilt Low Kick (ローキック) 5.5% A kneeling low-level kick. Due to it hitting on frame 5, it is Zelda's fastest tilt attack and her fastest move to execute. Compared to SSB4, it has smaller range and noticeably less combo potential, mostly serving as a fast, low-committal and low-profiling poke. It can, however, combo into a dash attack and Lightning Kick at mid percentages. It can also be a KO combo into forward or back aerial, especially with poor DI. It is potent in calling out fast grounded approaches and two-framing.
Dash attack Quick Palm Shot (クイックパームショット) 12% (clean sweet spot), 9% (clean sour spot), 6% (late) A double palm thrust that emits a blast of magical energy from her hands. The sweetspot lasts for two frames and is located at Zelda's hands. Due to it hitting on frame 6, it is one of the fastest dash attacks in the game. To complement this, its sweetspot's high base knockback allows it KO middleweights at around 120% while near the edge of Final Destination. However, it is small, with its other hitboxes lacking KO potential, and is unsafe especially on shield.
Forward smash Shining Palm Shot (シャイニングパームショット) 1% (hits 1-4), 13% (hit 5) A palm thrust that emits a multiple-hitting blast of magical energy. Its last hit's respectable damage output and high knockback growth make it strong enough to KO middleweights at around 75% near the edge of Final Destination. Its multiple hits also make it useful for pressuring shields, especially when it is charged, which combined with its moderate ending lag at 26 frames, makes it hard to punish on shield with good spacing. Due to it hitting on frame 16, however, it has the highest start-up lag out of Zelda's smash attacks.
Up smash Power Steer (パワースティア) 2% (hits 1-4), 0.8% (hits 5-6), 5% (hit 7) Waves her arm twice in an overhead fanning motion while her hand is infused with magical energy that hits several times. It hits on frame 9, which is fairly fast for a smash attack and makes it a decent point-blank out of shield option. It has a very long duration, making it good at catching getups and landings, and has a good vertical disjoint. Its last hit KOs aerial middleweights at around 104% from anywhere on Final Destination. However, it has minimal horizontal range and 30 frames of ending lag, thus making it very punishable if not used properly.
Down smash Spinning Low Kick (スピニングローキック) 12% (front), 10% (back) A spinning, low-level roundhouse kick. Due to it hitting on frame 5, it is tied with Mario, Dr. Mario, Pit, Dark Pit, Ryu, and Ken's down smashes for the second-fastest smash attack of any kind in the game, being surpassed only by Meta Knight's buffered down smash. It hits on both sides, making it useful for punishing rolls, and the foot hitboxes semi-spike which is useful for setting up an edge-guard. Although it is Zelda's weakest smash attack, it is still decently strong and has rather moderate ending lag. The front hit deals higher damage, and the sweetspot KOs at around 112% on middleweights near the edge of Final Destination; in comparison, the back hit sweetspot KOs them at around 117%.
Neutral aerial Zelda Spin (ゼルダスピン) 2.5% (hits 1-4, front), 1.5% (hits 1-4, back), 5% (hit 5) Twirls twice with her arms outstretched and her hands infused with magical energy. Due to it hitting on frame 6, it is tied with forward and back aerials for the lowest amount of start-up lag out of Zelda's aerials. It has large hitboxes on both sides with several hits, making it rather versatile; it has a rather high damage output, especially with the front hits, can start combos when SHFFed, can string into other moves with good drift in an autocanceled short hop, or can be an edge-guarding option. The last hit has decent knockback for its type, as it can KO middleweights at around 150% at the edge of Final Destination without rage. The moved was changed from Smash 4, resulting in the multi-hits being weaker and less consistent, with opponents sometimes being able to fall out of the multi-hit portion, reducing its consistency and reliability. This issue is most salient if Zelda is fast-falling or drifting away in the multi-hit portion.
Forward aerial Lightning Kick (Front) (稲妻キック（前）) 20% (clean foot), 4% (clean leg, late) A magically-infused flying kick. Its sweetspot is at the tip of her foot and has both an outstanding damage output and high knockback growth, KOing middleweights at around 59% while near the edge of Final Destination, similarly to Captain Falcon's Knee Smash, though slightly weaker. At frame 6, it's quite fast for its power. Compared to back air, it has slightly less knockback, but autocancels slightly earlier and has less landing lag. However, the sweetspot only lasts for one frame, and the sourspots are very weak and unsafe, even on hit because of their extremely low damage and base knockback. Its considerable ending lag also makes it punishable at low percentages, sometimes even if it is sweetspotted. Due to the aforementioned very low damage and knockback, the sourspot can lock opponents and set up into other moves at high percents but lacks utility otherwise. Autocancels in a full hop fast fall, just one frame after Zelda reaches the peak of her short hop, similarly to Kirby's forward aerial.
Back aerial Lightning Kick (Back) (稲妻キック（後）) 20% (clean foot), 4% (clean leg, late) A magically-infused flying kick. It functions identically to forward aerial, with the only difference being that its sweetspot has slightly more base knockback and knockback growth, in exchange for having slightly more landing lag and auto-canceling slightly later. It is the strongest back aerial in the game, with the sweetspot KOing middleweights at around 54% while near the edge of Final Destination. However, it has the highest amount of landing lag out of Zelda's aerials.
Up aerial Condense Blast (コンデンスブラスト) 17% (clean hit), 12% (late hit) Leans back and turns slightly, extending her arm to create a fiery explosion above her from her index and middle fingers. It is the most damaging and second strongest up aerial in the game, behind Shulk's up aerial if the second hit is sweetspotted. It KOs middleweights at around 100% from a full hop. It has a huge vertical disjoint thanks to its large hitbox and high position, being able to clip through platforms or the bottom of stage edges. It also has a late hit that is weaker but improves its ability to juggle. However, it is slow, hitting on frame 14, which makes it tied with down aerial for the highest amount of start-up lag out of Zelda's aerials. It also has high ending lag (35 frames) and a fairly short horizontal range. It autocancels in a full hop.
Down aerial Meteor Heel (マイルドメテオヒール, Mild Meteor Heel) 16% (clean), 5% (late, leg), 4% (late, foot) A magically-infused stomp, also known as the Lightning Stomp. All of its hitboxes are meteor smashes and can lock opponents, with its sweetspot being the most powerful among them. Its sourspot lasts deceptively long, allowing it to potentially gimp fighters with poor recoveries, but deals even less knockback than Lightning Kicks' sourspots. It ties for the lowest landing lag out of Zelda's aerials, which allows it to be safe on shield with proper spacing, and enables its sweetspot to reliably start combos on grounded opponents. It hits on frame 14, which ties with up aerial for the highest amount of start-up lag out of Zelda's aerials, but combined with its deceptively long duration and its low ending lag, it's somewhat fast for a meteor smash. Like neutral aerial, it can also autocancel in a short hop.
Grab Holding (ホールディング) — Restrains the opponent with magic. Zelda's grabs have long-range and are somewhat disjointed, with her pivot grab being one of the longest non-tether pivot grabs, but also have a noticeable start-up and ending lag.
Pummel Holding Attack (ホールディングアタック) 1.3% A point-blank blast of magical energy. Average power and speed.
Forward throw Force Move (フォースムーブ) 10% Magically pulls the opponent back and then tosses them away. It is useful for sending opponents off stage, even at low percents, thanks to its high base knockback, but due to its low knockback growth lacks KO potential unless extremely close to the horizontal blast zone. However, it can combo into Phantom Slash for high damage or an early KO.
Back throw Force Back Move (フォースバックムーブ) 12% Magically spins the opponent and turns around with them in tow before throwing them away. In addition to being good for setting up edge guards, it is among the strongest throws in the game, KOing middleweights at around 105% while near the edge of Final Destination.
Up throw Force Top Move (フォーストップムーブ) 11% Magically spins the opponent overhead and then hurls them upward. It has excellent KO potential, being able to KO middleweights at around 146% from anywhere on Final Destination, and is tied with Incineroar and Lucas's up throws for the fifth strongest up throw in the game. On heavyweights and fast-fallers, it also has limited combo potential into neutral aerial at low percentages. Overall, these attributes make it one of the best up throws in the game.
Down throw Plasma Beat (プラズマビート) 1.5% (hits 1-4), 2% (throw) Casts the opponent onto the ground and then blasts them with fiery magic from her hands while levitating. It functions as Zelda's only reliable combo throw, launching up and behind her. Its DI can be reacted to for a guaranteed follow-up from low to mid percents. With DI in, it can combo into neutral aerial, Lightning Kick, up aerial and up special. With DI out, it can combo into a dash back forward aerial or back aerial fairly consistently with proper timing from low to mid percents. Its combo potential will be more limited the more rage Zelda has.
Forward roll
Back roll
Spot dodge
Air dodge 		— —
Techs — —
Floor attack (front)
Floor getups (front) 		  7% Kicks in front of herself and then behind herself.
Floor attack (back)
Floor getups (back) 		  7% Kicks in front of herself and then behind herself.
Floor attack (trip)
Floor getups (trip) 		  5% Kicks around herself.
Edge attack
Edge getups 		  9% Performs a kick while climbing up.
Neutral special Nayru's Love 2%/1% (hits 1-3, near/far), 5%/4% (hit 4, near/far), 1.25× (reflected projectiles) Creates a blue crystalline barrier with shards around herself. They deal moderate damage and reflect projectiles with 25% more damage and speed. It also grants full intangibility on frames 4-13, making it good at beating out other moves and sometimes good as a defensive option to disrupt strings. However, it has a moderate start-up for its hitboxes (frame 11) and considerable ending lag, making it punishable if used recklessly.
Side special Din's Fire 7%-14% (sweetspot), 3.5%-7% (sourspot) Launches a magical fireball that slowly accelerates forward. Its trajectory can be altered, albeit marginally, by holding up or down, and releasing the special button causes it to stop and then explode after a moment. It has a large hitbox, and only the explosion can be reflected or absorbed. The longer the button is held down, the farther the fireball will travel, and it will automatically detonate when it reaches its maximum distance. Its sweetspot, which is located in the inner part of the explosion, is quite powerful. When fully charged, the sweetspot can KO middleweights at around 87% while near the edge of Final Destination, but the sourspot is very weak regardless of its charge. While useful off stage on characters with bad recoveries, it is otherwise easily avoidable with an air dodge or simply clanking. Even though it is hard to land itself, it can force the opponent to use an air dodge and recover low/to the ledge.
Up special Farore's Wind 6% (hit 1), 10%/7% (grounded hit 2 near/far), 12%/8% (aerial hit 2 near/far) Warps in a given direction. It travels a long distance and can be angled omnidirectionally, similarly to Fox's Fire Fox, but is much faster in comparison. It deals damage to nearby opponents both while disappearing and while reappearing, and grants full intangibility during its travel. Its disappearance launches upward, enabling it to combo into its reappearance at various percents when aimed correctly. The reappearance has a sweetspot that deals high damage, high base knockback, and high knockback growth, making it potent at KOing, especially near the upper blast line. Its sweetspotted aerial reappearance can KO middleweights off the top blast zone at around 68% from the initial grounded hit (though heavily dependent on DI and LSI), while the grounded reappearance can KO middleweights at around 71% from the edge of Final Destination. The reappearance has a sourspot that, although large and safe on hit, lacks KO potential, and due to the move incurring helplessness, it is punishable if whiffed. It can be edge-canceled, a trait it shares with Sheik's Vanish, Mewtwo's Teleport and Palutena's Warp.
Down special Phantom Slash 5.9% (level 1), 8.2% (level 2), 10.5%/11.8% (level 3) 14.1%/15.4% (level 4), 17.7% (level 5) Conjures a Phantom piece by piece and propels it forward with another button press. Serves as a projectile with varying attacks of increasing degrees of speed, HP, power and distance. When fully charged, the Phantom can delay its attack for up to about a second, effectively controlling a large space and giving Zelda time to add pressure, perform combined combos or to retreat behind it for protection. When fully charged, the Phantom can KO middleweights at around 84% from the edge of Final Destination. Very versatile and one of Zelda's best options in the neutral game and advantage state.
Final Smash Triforce of Wisdom 7% (initial vacuum), 3% (subsequent vacuum), 60% (main) Uses the Triforce of Wisdom to generate a triangular portal that sucks in opponents using massive periodic shockwaves. Upon catching an opponent, they will take heavy damage before either being launched with low knockback, or being instantly KOed if they reach 100% or higher before the final hit. Very difficult to avoid on smaller stages (such as Dream Land or Mushroom Kingdom II), if not effectively impossible, due to its long duration and massive vacuum hitboxes.

Stats[edit]

Stats Weight Dash speed Walk speed Traction Air friction Air speed Air acceleration Gravity Falling speed Jumpsquat Jump Height Double jump Height
Value 85 1.958 – Initial dash
1.43 – Run		 0.914 0.116 0.006 1.092 0.01 – Base
0.055 – Additional		 0.071 1.35 – Base
2.16 – Fast-fall		 3 31.55 - Base
15.24 - Short hop		 31.55

Announcer call[edit]

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The editor who added this tag suggests: Needs announcer calls from other languages.
If you have a good audio file for this article, upload it here.

  • English/Japanese/Chinese

On-screen appearance[edit]

  • Appears facing the screen, generating magical sparkles from between cupped hands. Zelda then flourishes her hands while smiling before assuming her idle pose.
  • Zelda's on-screen appearance

    Zelda's on-screen appearance

Taunts[edit]

  • Up taunt: Places her hand on her hip, while generating magic and twirling it in front of her.
  • Side taunt: Closes her eyes and summons Din's Fire between cupped hands.
  • Down Taunt: Giggles and waves with a smile.
  • Zelda's up taunt.

    Zelda's up taunt.

  • Zelda's side taunt.

    Zelda's side taunt.

  • Zelda's down taunt.

    Zelda's down taunt.

Idle poses[edit]

  • Brushes her hair while looking back.
  • Smiles and performs a pondering gesture with a finger tapping her cheek.
  • Zelda's first idle pose.

    Zelda's first idle pose.

  • Zelda's second idle pose.

    Zelda's second idle pose.

Crowd cheer[edit]

Cheer (English) Cheer (Japanese/Chinese) Cheer (Italian) Cheer (Dutch) Cheer (French)
Cheer
NTSC

PAL
Description Zel - da! Zel - da! Zeeeeel - da! Zel - da! Zel - da!
Cheer (German) Cheer (Spanish) Cheer (Russian) Cheer (Korean)
Cheer
NTSC

PAL
Description Zel - da! Zeeeeel - da! Zel - da! Zel - da! Zelda!

Victory poses[edit]

  • Left: Creates magic with her fingertips and waves it around.
  • Up: Creates fire from her fingertip and waves it around while giggling.
  • Right: Summons a Phantom behind her with a snap of her finger and poses with it.
A flourished and abridged remix of the theme that plays when Link obtains a Triforce Piece in The Legend of Zelda and has since become the main theme of The Legend of Zelda series.
  • ZeldaVictoryPose1SSBU.gif
  • ZeldaVictoryPose2SSBU.gif
  • ZeldaVictoryPose3SSBU.gif

In competitive play[edit]

Most historically significant players[edit]

See also: Category:Zelda players (SSBU)

  • Japan Maipan - The second-best Zelda player in Japan. He is best known for placing 17th at DELTA 8, defeating Zackray and Tea along the way. Although very inconsistent at other events, he had a few other noteworthy events including placing 17th at DELTA 7.5 and 33rd at Seibugeki 13 defeating TamaPDaifuku in the latter event.
  • France Naskino - The best Zelda player in Europe is a top 50 player on the continent in the post-online metagame, ranking 37th on the European Ultimate Power Rankings for the first half of 2023. He has consistently placed highly at several events, most notably 13th at King Of Fields 95 3 and 17th at Temple: Hermès Edition. He retired in 2024.
  • USA ven - The best Zelda player from 2019 to 2022. His best results were in the early metagame thanks to strong performances such as 17th at 2GG: Prime Saga defeating ESAM and 33rd at 2GG: Kongo Saga defeating Elegant; he was also the first Zelda player ranked on a global ranking, ranking 83rd on the OrionRank Ultimate: Six Months In. Although less consistent since, he has still seen some strong results, including 9th at LVL UP EXPO 2023, tied as the best Zelda placement at a major.
  • Japan Yn - The best Zelda player in the world since 2023. He has the best peaks for a Zelda player, including placing 9th at both Maesuma TOP 11, defeating Tea, and Maesuma TOP 14.5 "in Hyogo", both of which are tied for the highest placement from a Zelda player at a major.

Tier placement and history[edit]

Players were initially divided on Zelda's competitive viability. Many players pointed out that her key issues, most notably her low mobility and poor endurance, were retained from previous games. On the other hand, other players were more optimistic towards the character due to improved frame data over her Smash 4 iteration, particularly on her out-of-shield options, as well as Phantom Slash's higher utility. This optimism, coupled with strong early performances from players such as Mystearica, Naskino, and ven, led many to believe the character was a solid mid-tier, with some arguing that she could be a potential high-tier.

This optimism did not last for long, as Zelda's polarizing nature became more noticeable as time went on: despite receiving buffs in updates 7.0.0 and 13.0.0 that improved her consistency, Zelda's poor mobility, disadvantage, and highly risky neutral remained critical weaknesses. As a result, Zelda players began struggling in the developing metagame, and they either dropped the character (such as Mystearica) or saw worse results and consistency than before (such as ven). Although Naskino continued to do well in Europe and Yn began making waves in Japan in early-2023, opinions on Zelda continued to decline, and as a result she sits at 75th out of 82 on the first tier list, rising two spots in the second and current one. Although it is her best placement in the series and she is far better than all her previous incarnations, she is currently placed in low-tier.

Classic Mode: Wisdom Prevails[edit]

Zelda's congratulations screen.

Zelda's opponents are antagonists and she fights each of them on stages that hail from The Legend of Zelda series.

Round Opponent Stage Music Notes
1 Wario (SSBU) Wario Great Plateau Tower Main Theme - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2 Bowser (SSBU) Bowser Skyloft Ballad of the Goddess (Original)
3 Mii Swordfighter (SSBU) Mii Swordfighter (×5) Temple Temple Theme Horde Battle (3 at a time)
The Mii Swordfighters are dressed in the Yiga Clan Mask and Yiga Clan Outfit.
4 Giant King K. Rool (SSBU) King K. Rool Bridge of Eldin Dark World (for 3DS / Wii U) A possible reference to King Bulblin.
5 Dark Samus (SSBU) Dark Samus Gerudo Valley Hidden Mountain & Forest
6 Link (SSBU) Link (×4) Hyrule Castle Great Temple / Temple
Bonus Stage
Final Ganondorf (SSBU) Ganondorf, then Ganon Sacred Land Calamity Ganon Battle - Second Form (Ganondorf)
Death Mountain (Ganon)		 A Maxim Tomato spawns on the stage after Ganondorf is KO'd.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Zelda has Hidden Mountain & Forest accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light[edit]

Finding Zelda in World of Light

Zelda was among the fighters that were summoned to fight the army of Master Hands.

During the opening cutscene, Zelda tried to rally the other fighters to fight the army of Master Hands by saying, "Stow your fear; it's now or never!" ("ここまで来たらやるしかないでしょう!", Now that we've made it this far, there's no turning back!), and was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. She and Mewtwo attempted to reflect the beams using Nayru's Love and Confusion, respectively, but this attempt failed, and both of them were vaporized and placed under Galeem's imprisonment along with the rest of the fighters (excluding Kirby).

Zelda was one of the many fighters that fell under Dharkon's control upon Galeem's first defeat. She is unlocked in The Dark Realm at Sacred Land, on the bottom left corner of the land which makes up the Triforce of Wisdom. The player must defeat the spirit of Impa (which is revealed by solving a clock-based puzzle) to clear a boulder that's blocking the path to her unlock battle and then the Zael and Uxie, Mesprit, & Azelf spirits. Unlocking her reveals the Triforce of Wisdom in the center of the map. If Young Link is unlocked, the boulders leading to Cloud's unlock battle and the Master Sword clear out.

Zelda is later seen among several other fighters, making their last stand against Galeem and Dharkon. She is also seen in the bad ending where Galeem emerges victorious against Dharkon, witnessing Galeem engulf the world in light.

Fighter Battle[edit]

No. Image Name Type Power Stage Music
17
Zelda SSBU.png
 Zelda
Shield
Shield
 10,100 Temple (Ω form) Ocarina of Time Medley

Spirits[edit]

Zelda's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Zelda has been unlocked. Unlocking Zelda in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Her fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with her artwork in Ultimate.

Additionally, different incarnations of Zelda appear as primary and support spirits.

  • 173. Zelda

    173. Zelda

  • 189. Young Zelda

    189. Young Zelda

  • 190. Zelda (Ocarina of Time)

    190. Zelda (Ocarina of Time)

  • 238. Zelda (Breath of the Wild)

    238. Zelda (Breath of the Wild)

  • 247. Zelda (The Wind Waker)

    247. Zelda (The Wind Waker)

  • 259. Zelda (Spirit Tracks)

    259. Zelda (Spirit Tracks)

In Spirit Battles[edit]

As the main opponent[edit]

Spirit Battle parameters
No. Image Name Series Enemy Fighter(s) Type Power Stage Rules Conditions Music
187
SSBU spirit Marin.png
 Marin The Legend of Zelda Series •Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
•Link Link (SSBU)
Shield
 4,600 Tortimer Island (Battlefield form) •Hazard: Slumber Floor •The floor is sleep-inducing
•Timed battle (1:30) 		Tal Tal Heights
189
SSBU spirit Young Zelda.png
 Young Zelda The Legend of Zelda Series •Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
•Young Link Young Link (SSBU)
Shield
 3,700 Hyrule Castle N/A •Take your strongest team into this no-frills battle Ocarina of Time Medley
195
SSBU spirit Malon.png
 Malon The Legend of Zelda Series •Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
Shield
 3,600 Smashville •Item Tidal Wave
•Item: Cucco 		•The enemy becomes more powerful after eating
•Certain items will appear in large numbers 		Ocarina of Time Medley
201
SSBU spirit Great Fairy.png
 Great Fairy The Legend of Zelda Series •Giant Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
Shield
 9,500 Fountain of Dreams (Battlefield form) •Health Recovery •The enemy's special moves have increased power
•The enemy is healed significantly when the enemy's at high damage
•The enemy's FS Meter charges quickly 		Ocarina of Time Medley
215
SSBU spirit Din.png
 Din The Legend of Zelda Series •Zelda Zelda (SSBU)×2
Attack
 4,000 Bridge of Eldin (Battlefield form) •Hazard: Lava Floor •The floor is lava
•The enemy favors side specials 		Ballad of the Goddess (Remix)
216
SSBU spirit Nayru.png
 Nayru The Legend of Zelda Series •Zelda Zelda (SSBU)×2
Shield
 3,500 Bridge of Eldin •Temporary Invincibility •The enemy will occasionally be invincible after a little while
•The enemy favors neutral specials 		Ballad of the Goddess (Original)
236
SSBU spirit Hilda (The Legend of Zelda).png
 Hilda (The Legend of Zelda) The Legend of Zelda Series •Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
•Bunny Young Link Young Link (SSBU)
Shield
 9,100 Temple •Assist Trophy Enemies (Nightmare) •Hostile assist trophies will appear Lorule Main Theme
238
SSBU spirit Zelda (Breath of the Wild).png
 Zelda (Breath of the Wild) The Legend of Zelda Series •Zelda Zelda (SSBU) (50 HP)
•Link Link (SSBU) (60 HP)
•Inkling Inkling (SSBU) (30 HP)
•Donkey Kong Donkey Kong (SSBU) (60 HP)
•Falco Falco (SSBU) (50 HP)
•Zero Suit Samus Zero Suit Samus (SSBU) (50 HP)
Shield
 9,200 Great Plateau Tower N/A •Stamina battle
•Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd
•Defeat an army of fighters 		Main Theme - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
258
SSBU spirit Phantom.png
 Phantom The Legend of Zelda Series •Clear Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
Shield
 3,800 Spirit Train (Battlefield form) N/A •The enemy's down special has increased power
•The enemy favors down specials
•The enemy is invisible 		Full Steam Ahead
582
Hinawa
 Hinawa EarthBound Series •Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
•Lucas Lucas (SSBU)Lucas (SSBU)
Attack
 13,100 Yoshi's Island •Easy to Launch •All fighters are easy to launch Mother 3 Love Theme
659
SSBU spirit Mist.png
 Mist Fire Emblem Series •Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
•Ike Ike (SSBU)
Grab
 3,500 Reset Bomb Forest (hazards off) •Health Recovery
•Defense ↑ 		•The enemy has increased defense when the enemy's at high damage
•The enemy is healed when the enemy's at high damage 		Victory Is Near
1,053
SSBU spirit Maria Renard.png
 Maria Renard Castlevania Series •Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
•Falco Falco (SSBU)
•Charizard Charizard (SSBU)
•Incineroar Incineroar (SSBU)
Grab
 3,700 Reset Bomb Forest (hazards off) N/A •The enemy starts the battle with a Cucco Slash
1,065
SSBU spirit Charlotte Aulin.png
 Charlotte Aulin Castlevania Series •Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
•Richter Richter (SSBU)
Attack
 3,700 Bridge of Eldin (Battlefield form) N/A •The enemy's special moves have increased power
•The enemy favors side specials
•Reinforcements will appear during the battle 		Hail from the Past
1,174
Source: https://youtu.be/9HtomHkLa3Q?t=72
 Jenna Golden Sun Series •Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
Shield
 3,500 Temple (Battlefield form) •Assist Trophy Enemies (Isaac) •Hostile assist trophies will appear
•The enemy favors side specials 		Battle Scene / Final Boss - Golden Sun
1,236
protagonist
 Shop Assistant Style Savvy Series North America
Nintendo presents: Style Boutique Series PAL 		•Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
Attack
 3,600 Tomodachi Life •Item: Transforming Types •The enemy is easily distracted by items Style Savvy: Trendsetters
1,241
Yuri kozukata fatal frame
 Yuri Kozukata Fatal Frame Series North America
Project Zero Series PAL 		•Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
Attack
 9,200 Luigi's Mansion •Assist Trophy Enemies (Yuri Kozukata) •Hostile assist trophies will appear Main Theme - Luigi's Mansion (Brawl)
1,365
SSBU spirit Nakoruru.png
 Nakoruru SAMURAI SHODOWN Series •Zelda Zelda (SSBU) (140 HP)
•Tiny Falco Falco (SSBU) (40 HP)
Shield
 3,800 Yoshi's Island (winter) •Attack Power ↑
•Item: Swords 		•Defeat the main fighter to win
•Stamina battle
•The enemy has increased attack power when the enemy's at high damage 		Banquet of Nature - SAMURAI SHODOWN
1,442
SSBU spirit Aerith.png
 Aerith FINAL FANTASY Series •Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
•Cloud Cloud (SSBU)
Shield
 7,500 Fountain of Dreams •Health Recovery •Defeat the main fighter to win
•The enemy is healed after a little while 		Aerith's Theme
•Mii Swordfighter Mii Swordfighter (SSBU) (Moveset 1312, Aerith's outfit, Normal Voice Type 6)[SB 1]
•Cloud Cloud (SSBU)
1,489
SSBU spirit Kokorowa.png
 Kokorowa Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin •Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
•R.O.B. R.O.B. (SSBU)×2 (INT)/R.O.B. (SSBU)×2 (JP/CH/KR)
Shield
 3,700 Suzaku Castle N/A •Defeat the main fighter to win
•The enemy favors down specials 		Boss 1 - Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword

As a minion[edit]

Spirit Battle parameters Inspiration
No. Image Name Series Enemy Fighter(s) Type Power Stage Rules Conditions Music Character
1,107
SSBU spirit Fighting Alloy Team.png
 Fighting Alloy Team Super Smash Bros. Series •Captain Falcon Team Captain Falcon (SSBU)×4
•Zelda Team Zelda (SSBU)×4
•Mario Team Mario (SSBU)×4
•Kirby Team Kirby (SSBU)×4
Attack
 3,300 Final Destination (Battlefield form) N/A •Take your strongest team into this no-frills battle Cruel Smash Blue Alloy
1,246
SSBU spirit Orville.png
 Orville Takt of Magic •Robin Robin (SSBU)
•Pit Pit (SSBU)
•Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
Grab
 3,400 PictoChat 2 N/A •Defeat the main fighter to win Struggle Against Chaos Charlotte (Takt of Magic)
1,328
SSBU spirit Hero's Comrades.png
 Hero's Comrades DRAGON QUEST Series •Ike Ike (SSBU) (120 HP)
•Tiny King Dedede King Dedede (SSBU) (120 HP)
•Zero Suit Samus Zero Suit Samus (SSBU) (100 HP)
•Sheik Sheik (SSBU) (130 HP)
•Tiny Robin Robin (SSBU) (90 HP)
•Zelda Zelda (SSBU) (110 HP)
•Link Link (SSBU) (100 HP)
Shield
 13,300 Yggdrasil's Altar N/A •The enemy has increased melee-weapon damage and move speed
•The enemy's smash attacks have increased power
•Stamina battle 		The Hero Goes Forth with a Determination Serena
1,411
SSBU spirit Duran & Angela.png
 Duran & Angela Mana Series •Roy Roy (SSBU)
•Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
•Tiny Bunny Kirby Kirby (SSBU)×2
Attack
 9,200 Gaur Plain (Ω form) •Item: Ramblin' Evil Mushroom •Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd Filled with Hope Angela
1,456
SSBU spirit Seth & Gloria.png
 Seth & Gloria Bravely Default Series •Mii Swordfighter Mii Swordfighter (SSBU) (Moveset: 3223, Chrom Wig, Dunban Outfit)
•Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
Shield
 9,400 Delfino Plaza (Large Island) •Health Recovery
•Defense ↑
•Item: Swords 		•The enemy has increased defense after a little while
•The enemy is healed when the enemy's at high damage
•The enemy's melee blows will heal them when they hit 		Jergingha - Planet Destruction Form Gloria
1,461
SSBU spirit Lora.png
 Lora Xenoblade Chronicles Series •Lucina Lucina (SSBU)
•Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
•Cloud Cloud (SSBU)
Grab
 3,800 Jungle Japes (Battlefield form) N/A •Defeat the main fighter to win Battle!!/Torna Haze
1,514
SSBU spirit Rauru.png
 Rauru The Legend of Zelda Series •Mewtwo Mewtwo (SSBU) (100 HP)
•Zelda Zelda (SSBU) (70 HP)
•Giant R.O.B. R.O.B. (SSBU) (70 HP)
•Robin Robin (SSBU) (60 HP)
•Inkling Inkling (SSBU) (60 HP)
•Charizard Charizard (SSBU) (60 HP)
•Pit Pit (SSBU) (60 HP)
Neutral
 13,000 Temple (Battlefield form) N/A •Stamina battle
•The enemy favors neutral specials
•Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd 		Calamity Ganon Battle - Second Form Zelda (Tears of the Kingdom)

As an ally[edit]

Spirit Battle parameters Inspiration
No. Image Name Series Enemy Fighter(s) Type Power Stage Rules Conditions Music Character
243
SSBU spirit Calamity Ganon.png
 Calamity Ganon The Legend of Zelda Series •Giant Ganondorf Ganondorf (SSBU)
•Ally: Zelda Zelda (SSBU)
Attack
 13,900 Great Plateau Tower (Ω form) •Sudden Damage •You lose if your CPU ally is KO'd
•You'll occasionally take sudden damage after a little while
•The enemy is giant 		Calamity Ganon Battle - Second Form Zelda (Breath of the Wild)
  1. ^ This alternative occurs when the corresponding DLC has been purchased and downloaded.

Alternate costumes[edit]

Palette swap (SSBU)
Zelda (SSBU) Zelda (SSBU) Zelda (SSBU) Zelda (SSBU) Zelda (SSBU) Zelda (SSBU) Zelda (SSBU) Zelda (SSBU)

Gallery[edit]

Fighter Showcase Video[edit]

Trivia[edit]

  • Masahiro Sakurai chose to base Zelda's design in Ultimate off of her A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds incarnations instead of her more recent Breath of the Wild incarnation because that version of Zelda, according to him, "is more into research than fighting."[1][2][3][4] He also mentioned in a subsequent Nintendo Treehouse Live event that he chose this design to better represent The Legend of Zelda franchise as a whole instead of having all of its fighters come from the same game.
  • Zelda's current default design was previously an alternate costume in terms of coloration of her model, whereas her previous default design based on Twilight Princess has now become an alternate costume in that same regard.
    • Coincidentally, Zelda was revealed in SSB4 at the same time A Link Between Worlds was released, which inspired her current design.
    • Ironically, despite her Twilight Princess incarnation being retired after this game, even though Ganondorf's design from that game is still directly referenced via a spirit, as well as Link's Wolf form from that game, Zelda is the only returning Zelda character from SSB4 that doesn't have her Twilight Princess design directly referenced in Ultimate at all.
  • Zelda can be unlocked by Kirby via his Classic Mode route, which may reference their team-up from Brawl's Adventure Mode, The Subspace Emissary.
  • Zelda is currently the only playable The Legend of Zelda character in Ultimate whose design originates from either a handheld game or a non-3D game.
  • The World of Light opening marks Zelda's first spoken line of dialogue in the Smash series. This is also the first time in the series that any Zelda character is voiced in English.
    • Zelda is one of the few characters to have her cutscene dialogue dubbed in English, but otherwise keep her Japanese voice actress's battle grunts, after Fox and Falco in Melee. She is also the only character to speak English in a cutscene while still having a Japanese KO line (with her yelling "いやぁっ!" (Nooo!)).
    • Zelda speaks English in all Western language versions of Ultimate, unlike Breath of the Wild, which was dubbed into multiple languages.
    • She is the second Zelda character to speak in Smash, the first being Sheik in Melee.
  • Zelda is the only The Legend of Zelda character whose animations are mirrored.
  • Zelda's Classic Mode route is vaguely similar to Diddy Kong's, as both characters fight villains and/or final bosses of various series for opponents.
  • Zelda, Peach, Falco, Olimar, Duck Hunt, and Dark Pit are the only fighters to appear as allies in Spirit Battles.
  • Ultimate marks the first time Zelda's Kirby hat no longer resembles Young Zelda's wimple from Ocarina of Time, despite her appearance in Melee being based on her adult design from the same game, and her Brawl and SSB4 designs both being based on her appearance in Twilight Princess, which also makes it the first time said Kirby hat is based directly on how she appears in-game.
  • Gravity on Zelda's hair is temporarily disabled whenever she performs her hair-brushing idle pose.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Masahiro Sakurai (translated by Brando) (2018-06-20). "Smash is Special – Part 1" Sakurai's Famitsu Column Vol. 557. SourceGaming.info (original Japanese publication in Famitsu). Retrieved on 2018-06-20. “Zelda's new design is based on "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past"”
  2. ^ a b Dairantou Smash Bros. SPECIAL (E3 2018). Nintendo (2018-06-12). Retrieved on 2018-07-08. “Breath of the Wild Zelda isn't interested in combat, so her design is from A Link to the Past.”
  3. ^ a b Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (North America) - Palutena's Guidance: "Yes, that's Zelda from A Link to the Past. She's a descendant of the Seven Sages. When she was captured, she used telepathy to ask Link for help."
  4. ^ a b Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - E3 2018. Nintendo (2018-06-12). Retrieved on 2018-07-08. “In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Zelda's more into research than fighting, so her design is from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds”.
  5. ^ PushDustIn on Twitter: Zelda is confirmed to be based on Link to the Past AND Link Between Worlds.


v • d • e
Fighters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Veterans Bayonetta · Bowser · Bowser Jr. · Captain Falcon · Cloud · Corrin · Dark Pit · Diddy Kong · Donkey Kong · Dr. Mario · Duck Hunt · Falco · Fox · Ganondorf · Greninja · Ice Climbers · Ike · Jigglypuff · King Dedede · Kirby · Link · Little Mac · Lucario · Lucas · Lucina · Luigi · Mario · Marth · Mega Man · Meta Knight · Mewtwo · Mii Fighter (Mii Brawler · Mii Gunner · Mii Swordfighter) · Mr. Game & Watch · Ness · Olimar · Pac-Man · Palutena · Peach · Pichu · Pikachu · Pit · Pokémon Trainer (Charizard · Ivysaur · Squirtle) · R.O.B. · Robin · Rosalina & Luma · Roy · Ryu · Samus · Sheik · Shulk · Snake · Sonic · Toon Link · Villager · Wario · Wii Fit Trainer · Wolf · Yoshi · Young Link · Zelda · Zero Suit Samus
Newcomers Banjo & Kazooie · Byleth · Chrom · Daisy · Dark Samus · Hero · Incineroar · Inkling · Isabelle · Joker · Kazuya · Ken · King K. Rool · Min Min · Piranha Plant · Pyra / Mythra  · Richter · Ridley · Sephiroth · Simon · Sora · Steve · Terry
v • d • e
The Legend of Zelda (universe) The Legend of Zelda universe
Fighters Link (SSB · SSBM · SSBB · SSB4 · SSBU) · Sheik (SSBM · SSBB · SSB4 · SSBU) · Zelda (SSBM · SSBB · SSB4 · SSBU) · Young Link (SSBM · SSBU) · Ganondorf (SSBM · SSBB · SSB4 · SSBU) · Toon Link (SSBB · SSB4 · SSBU)
Assist Trophies Tingle · Skull Kid · Midna · Ghirahim · Moon
Bosses Ganon
Stages Hyrule Castle · Great Bay · Temple · Bridge of Eldin · Pirate Ship · Gerudo Valley · Spirit Train · Skyloft · Great Plateau Tower
Underground Maze (Adventure Mode)
Items Heart Container · Bunny Hood · Deku Nut · Fairy Bottle · Cucco · Bombchu · Beetle · Gust Bellows
Enemies Bubble · Cucco · Darknut · Like Like · Octorok · Peahat · ReDead · Stalfos
Other Bulblin · Dark Link · King Bulblin & Lord Bullbo · King of Red Lions · Koume & Kotake · Majora's Mask · Navi · Phantom · Sacred Land · Tetra · Yiga Clan
Trophies, Stickers and Spirits Trophies (SSBM · SSBB · SSB4) · Stickers · Spirits
Music Brawl · SSB4 · Ultimate
Masterpieces The Legend of Zelda · Zelda II: The Adventure of Link · The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
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