Link (SSBB)

Link in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Triforce Slash
Tier	F (36)

Link (リンク, Rinku) was confirmed for Super Smash Bros. Brawl at E3 2006. His graphics have been completely revamped from his Super Smash Bros. Melee form, since his new look is derived from the game, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and his special moves have also been changed to fit the style of Twilight Princess

Despite his projectiles and large number of advanced techniques, he is currently ranked 36th (third from bottom) in the tier list due to his poor mobility, bad options out of shield, sluggish moves with poor frame data (his fastest ground attack, jab, is 7 frames, and fastest aerial, back aerial, is 6 frames), vulnerability to chain grabs, and abysmal recovery (although projectiles and a tether grab grant him some options, if still poor), resulting in very poor match-ups against most characters.

Attributes

Link may be a character of poor speed, but he makes up for that with power. His sliding DACUS also helps his slow mobility. Link is moderately heavy, having the same weight as Captain Falcon. Link is also one of the heaviest characters in the game with good directional influence and momentum canceling, especially vertically, which along his extremely quick fast fall allows him to live almost as long as Snake, though he has arguably the worst recovery in the game and sometimes his fast fall can also give him problems recovering. His heavyweight backfires, however, by making him extremely vulnerable to chain grabs that force him offstage. Link's tilts are fast and powerful, and his down tilt is particularly good for getting opponents into the air. It can also meteor smash at the tip of the sword or hitting behind Link. His up tilt is fast and good for juggling, and his forward tilt can easily KO at high percentages. Link's forward smash can become a two hit combo; it is also a great KO move, depending from were the sword connects. His down smash is an easy KO move at fairly high percentages, and is Link's quickest smash. However, it is predictable making it easy to watch out at higher percentages, and has some ending. Link's up smash doesn't KO easily, but it racks up decent damage. Link's aerial attacks are also good, as both his neutral aerial and Grab aerial (zair), combined with a short hop and fast falling, is a great option for approach. Link's back aerial is good for spacing when needed. Link's forward aerial is fairly fast, is a good set-up move and its second hit is powerful, but this KOing move is hard to land, since the first hit only set ups the second hit at very low percentages and the first hit lacks KO power. Link's up and down aerials are some of his best KO moves, having high duration and high knockback, but have high ending and landing lag. Even though his aerial attacks are effective, his slow aerial speed, fast falling speed, and small jumps give Link a very weak aerial game. His grab, like all tether grabs, has good range but has 12 frames start-up and is laggy if missed. Specials for Link are also good for keeping distance, racking up damage, and great for survival. On the ground, Link can charge his up special (Spin Attack). It is a good edge guarding tool, but is predictable. Spin attack can also deflect projectiles if used in the air. His neutral special is a bow that charges and shoots high-speed projectiles. If activated in the air, just before hitting the ground, an uncharged arrow will shoot instantly, making it a fast attack that will often hit unsuspecting enemies. Link's down special allows him to pull out a bomb and throw it, which can be used for mind games, but his own bombs can be used against him. His Gale Boomerang, Link's side special move, has fairly good range and can gimp some opponent's recovery. Smashing the side special will cause the boomerang to reach farther. Link's shield can act as a shield on its own: when Link doesn't move, many projectiles coming from the opposite direction he's facing can't hit him. Crouching can also block most attacks as well, but leaves his upper hitbox open. He also has a great spot dodge.

Link's critical problem is his abysmal recovery, making him easy to KO despite being a heavyweight with great momentum canceling. Although his projectiles, particularly Gale Boomerang help it somewhat, his poor jumping, quick fall speed, slow air speed, and poor distance on the Spin Attack make his recovery arguably the shortest in the game both horizontally and vertically and also very predictable, so it's suggested that all Link mains have good directional influence. Link's spin attack is also a slow recovery move, with predictable trajectory, making it fairly easy to edgeguard, mostly with moves that out prioritizes his projectiles, and due to the poor distance of his recovery he can get KO'd offstage with a fairly low amount of hits and not being able to recover, especially when he loses his 2nd jump, and due his poor vertical distance that also means spikes are devastating for his recovery. Link's most effective mode of recovery is to first throw the Gale Boomerang to disrupt the opponent, then use his up special right after doing his second jump to give more momentum so he can gain more height, but even this is a poor recovery option. Using Spin Attack immediately after being hit while recovering makes it give no horizontal distance at all. His Clawshot is also useful, being the second longest tether grab in the game, but, like all tether recoveries, it is easily edgehogged. Another method of recovery is where Link pulls out a bomb, uses his Spin Attack, and his bomb blows up on him for little damage but gives Link another Spin Attack. At higher percentages the knockback from the bomb can be used for additional height. Although, Link has a large ledge sweetspot, but due to his poor recovery, Link heavily relies on edge grabbing, leaving him vulnerable to edgehogging (though, this can be prevented with his projectiles). If Link is lucky, the Gale Boomerang can carry the opponent out far enough so they can't recover, but this happens rarely, making it very unreliable.

Changes from Melee to Brawl

Link has suffered a nerf, though he has not changed drastically from Melee to Brawl. His recovery is worse due to his much slower air speed and shorter grappling device. The grapple is now a tether recovery and can no longer be used on any part of a stage, but it finds and tracks the wall, automatically sweetspotting a nearby ledge instead of just latching onto it when it touches. Link's arrows are faster (but are unable to shield him from projectiles now), but the infinite sword stab in his neutral combo has been removed. The first hit of Link's side smash and his bombs cause greater knockback (it can now KO). Link now has a larger character model. His spin attack can be charged on the ground, but the uncharged Spin Attack has lower knockback and longer start-up and it no longer semi-spikes (although in the PAL version it didn't semi-spike). If Link uses Spin Attack in midair after just getting hit, it will almost never move horizontally anymore. Link's boomerang (now called Gale Boomerang) pushes opponents on the way back without causing damage. It also does lower damage and has a set knockback now. Further, the absence of L-canceling makes his poor aerial game even worse, particularly for his down aerial, his best KO move.

Link also had several cosmetic changes from Melee to Brawl. His design and voice actor are now from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. He also has two new costumes; Dark Link (which replaces his previous black tunic) and a "gold" costume. His forward helpless state is now the animation of Link when he finishes his double jump (from both Melee and Brawl), but his back and neutral helpless states are the same. Link's taunt from Melee has been replaced by his one from SSB. Also, Link has a new standing animation making his Hylian Shield less useful.

Moveset

	Move	Description	Segment		Damage	Angle	Hit Frames		BKB	KBG	WBKB	Type
Neutral attack	Triple Swing	Swipes his sword across his body (can jab lock), second swipe goes outwards (has lots of hitstun, allowing to be comboed to many of his moves) and the third hit is a stab forward. Loosely based on Link's final blow to Ganon in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The first 2 hits are great when jab canceled, as it can lead into his grab, up special, down smash or even to itself again if the opponent doesn't SDI out of it. First hit can jab lock characters laying on the ground, which Bomb footstool fast falled neutral aerial can set-up at lower percentages.	Hit 1		4%	*	7	8	16	37	0
			Hit 2	Tip	3%	100	14	15	40	20
				Blade		78
				Arm		60
				Body		50
			Hit 3		5%	30	27	31	70	50
Forward tilt	Overhand Swipe	An overhead swipe. An efficient KO move at higher damages.			13%	*	15	18	20	96	0
Up tilt	Vertical Swing	Swings sword in an arc. Has good range and knockback. Good for juggling fast-fallers at low percentages.	Tip		9%	95	8	12	30	122	0
			Blade			85				130
			Arm							124
			Body							123
Down tilt	Ground Swipe	Swipes sword across ground. Meteor smashes aerial opponents in contact with Link's body, and opponents hanging on a ledge. This is more difficult to use as a meteor smash than other down tilts, because the sweetspot is significantly smaller, ranging only from his head to his body (while crouching). There is, however, a second sweetspot on his sword that can be found by playing on Final Destination and examining the vertical lines that range across its surface. This move will meteor smash a character hanging on a ledge if the tip of Link's toes are touching the very last line on either side of the stage. The same place on Link's sword will also be the sweetspot for meteor smashing aerial opponents, although usually opponents will not be meteor smashed due to the low chance of this sweetspot connecting. Aside from meteor smashing, the move has a 40% chance of tripping.	Tip, Arm		12%	80	13	14	90	50	0
			Blade, Body			280
Dash attack	Running Slash	Swings sword from head to toe. Good combo starter.	Tip		10%	90	8	11	30	80	0
			Blade		12%	80
			Arm		11%	70
			Body			60
Up smash	Triple Slash	Swings sword in an arc three times. First two hits have no knockback, while the 3rd hit has below average knockback. This move is easily SDIed out of the last hit.	Hit 1	Tip	Template:DamageWhenCharged	95	11	16	0	100	40
				Blade		98					48
				Arm, Body							40
			Hit 2	Tip	Template:DamageWhenCharged	93	27	30			30
				Blade		90					33
				Arm							37
				Body							40
			Hit 3	Tip	Template:DamageWhenCharged	80	42	46	70	80	0
				Blade		90
				Arm	Template:DamageWhenCharged
				Body	Template:DamageWhenCharged
Down smash	Grass Cutter	Swipes sword from front to back, very quick start-up but moderately long ending lag; like his down tilt but with more force and it hits behind. Opponents can be hit by both swipes if they are between Link and the Gale Boomerang during its second phase as it pulls the opponent towards Link; however, good timing is required.	Hit 1	Tip	Template:DamageWhenCharged	75	10	12	26	90	0
				Blade, Body	Template:DamageWhenCharged
				Arm	Template:DamageWhenCharged
			Hit 2	Tip, Blade, Body	Template:DamageWhenCharged		21	23	20
				Arm	Template:DamageWhenCharged
Forward smash	Two-Handed Swing	Swings sword forward. If the attack button is pressed again, he swings a second time with more force. Both hits can be used to rack up damage quickly at very low percentages. First hit is stronger in the tip, while the second hit is stronger if hit from close. Can be used to perform Bomb Smashing. Although the first hit has a somewhat long startup, it has almost no animation until the hit, making it difficult to react to.	Hit 1	Sword	Template:DamageWhenCharged	*	16	18	25	90	0
				Non-sword	Template:DamageWhenCharged
			Hit 2	Sword	Template:DamageWhenCharged	48	33	35	20
				Arm	Template:DamageWhenCharged				25
				Body	Template:DamageWhenCharged				30
Neutral aerial	Drop Kick	Does a flying jump-kick. Is a "sex kick" with good priority. Has almost no landing lag at all, being great to use to land safely from juggles.	Clean		10%	*	7	8	22	100	0
			Late		6%		9	27	15
Forward aerial	Double Swing	Swings his sword twice while spinning 360 degrees. Second hit has great knockback, though the first hit only sets up the second hit at very low percentages, making it hard to use as a KOing move. Takes some time to startup but has surprisingly little landing lag. Great with ledge dropped, double jumped, forward aerial to try to get-up from the ledge safely, and has invincibility during first hit if used early enough after grabbing the ledge normally or with tether.	Hit 1		9%	*	14	15	5	100	0
			Hit 2		12%		26	27	20	110
Back aerial	Rear Kicks	Does a two kick combo. Has almost no landing lag, 1st hit is a true combo into his up tilt.	Hit 1	Foot	4%	72	6	9	0	100	40
				Leg		68
			Hit 2		7%	*	18	23	70	70	0
Up aerial	Ceiling Stab	Thrusts his sword upward, just like the upward thrust attack in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Long duration and can star KO at higher damages, though it has a slow startup, little horizontal range, and significantly high ending lag (30 frames, or half a second).	Clean		15%	80	11	13	18	85	0
			Late		13%		14	40
Down aerial	Ground Stab	Holds his sword downward, this time based on the downward thrust from Zelda II. Bounces when the attack lands, possibly scoring an additional hit. A very powerful finisher that can K.O as low as 75%, but if missed leaves Link open for 50 frames if not auto-cancelled (the laggiest aerial landing in the game). Cannot be auto-cancelled in flat platforms, even if started at the highest jump and double jump combined (though it can from a ledge jump). However, it is very spammable in stages like Norfair, where it can be easily auto-canceled, especially against characters without a disjointed aerial that outranges it vertically (to completely outprioritize it). A Bomb footstool canceled can easily setup the down aerial. The pogo effect can be canceled by a fast fall, though it doesn't affect the power of the down aerial.	Clean	Hilt	22%	65	14		40	80	0
				Tip		90			30
			Late	Hilt	18%	65	15	64	40
				Tip					50
			After Bounce	Hilt	8%				40
				Tip					50
Grab aerial (zair)	Clawshot	Fires his Clawshot forward, scoring two hits. Has no landing lag at all. Can be used as a tether recovery. Very useful for spacing and stopping approaches against taller characters. This tether recovery can be used to save Link from a KO at extremely high damages ranging up to even higher than 300%. This can be done by simply air dodging and then immediately using the clawshot (or pressing Z twice or more) after getting hit by an attack that can semi-spike, such as Fox's, Jigglypuff's, or Zelda's down smashes. Link's Zair can also be used while a bomb is held to cancel an airdodge, which also allows him to Tether recover with a Bomb. Link has the 2nd longest zair in Brawl, only slightly shorter than Samus'.	Hit 1		4%	45	11	16	60	30	0
			Hit 2		6%		23	24
Pummel	Hilt Hit	Hits opponent with the hilt of the Master Sword. A fairly fast pummel.			2%	*	9		0	100	0
Forward throw	Punt	Lets go of foe then kicks them, football punt style.	Hit 1		3%	*	12	13	0	0	120
			Throw		4%	55	13		50	120	0
Back throw	Rear Punt	Throws foe back then back kicks.	Hit 1		3%	*	12		0	0	120
			Throw		4%	50	13		50	110	0
Up throw	Lob Slice	Throws foe a very short distance above him, then slashes. Can KO at high percentages.	Hit 1	Tip	5%	20	26	29	50	100	0
				Blade	4%
			Throw		2%	90	28		24	230
Down throw	Elbow Slam	Throws foe down then elbow drops them. The first hit cannot hit Jigglypuff. It is unclear why; since the target is still in Link's grip weight should have no effect.	Hit 1		3%	*	22		0	0	120
			Throw		4%	110	23		60	90	0
Floor (back)	Standing Swipe	Does two slashes front and back.	Hit 1		6%	*	21	22	80	50	0
			Hit 2				28	29
Floor (front)	Quick Swing	Does another two slashes front and back.	Hit 1		6%	*	15	16	80	50	0
			Hit 2				25	27
Floor (trip)	Standing Swing	Essentially the same as his other two floor attacks.	Hit 1		5%	*	19	20	60	50	0
			Hit 2				28	29
Edge (<100%)	Flip Swipe	Pulls himself up into a front flip and slices downward.			8%	*	27	29	0	100	110
Edge (100%+)	Slow Stab	Slowly climbs up and stabs in front of him.			10%	*	51	54	0	100	110
Neutral special move	Hero's Bow	Fires an arrow that can be charged.			5%	*			7	50	0
Side Special	Gale Boomerang	Throws the Gale Boomerang, which damages at it flies away and then pulls as it makes its way back.	Release		7%	70	1	4	80	40	0
			Flight		5%	65	5	28	60
			Slowdown		0%	60	29		0	100	60
			Return			40				100	70
Up special move	Spin Attack	Attacks on both sides with a spinning slash that can be charged and is easy to punish.	Hit 1 (ground)	Blade	12%	*	12	16	68	72	0
				Tip	9%
			Hit 2 (ground)	Blade			17	28	55	80
				Tip	7%
			Hit 3 (ground)	Blade			29	36	20
				Tip	5%
			Hit 1 (air)	Part A	4%	92	8	10	0	100	90
				Part B		75					100
				Part C		38					50
				Part D		70					78
			Hit 2 (air)	Part A	2%	92	16	18			88
				Part B		75					100
				Part C		38					50
				Part D		70					78
			Hit 3 (air)	Part A		92	22	24			77
				Part B		75					90
				Part C		40					40
				Part D		70					55
			Hit 4 (air)	Part A		92	31	33			60
				Part B		75					70
				Part C		40					40
				Part D		70					43
			Hit 5 (air)		4%	*	47	51	30	160	0
Down special move	Bomb	Produces a bomb to throw. Can cause self-damage.			5%	70			40	90	0
Final Smash	Triforce Slash	Traps the opponent and lays down a series of quick sword strikes before an impressive final blow.	Snag		5%	22	13	14	0	100	30
			Hits 1-14	Part A	4%	90	5-6, 16-17, 28-29, 38-39, 49-50, 60-61, 71-72, 82-83, 93-94, 104-105, 115-116, 126-127, 137-138, 148-149		0	100	50
				Part B		70
				Part C		110
				Part D		0
				Part E		180
			Hit 15		4%	*	159		60	200	0
			Hit 16		18%		255	256	45	100

Taunts

• Up: Twirls his sword twice and spins the sword while sheathing it. Similar to his Twilight Princess "victory pose", which he performs after defeating a boss, learning a hidden sword technique, or putting his sword away at a specific moment after beating a common enemy.
• Down: Link's mysterious taunt from the original. He pulls his knee to his chest and draws his sword back behind his head. Similar to Lucario's down taunt. May be loosely based on Link's attacking pose from Zelda II.
• Side: Takes out Navi, a fairy, who will fly around him.

In competitive play

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Role In Subspace Emissary

Link's role begins with him walking through a forest with his fairy companion, Navi. Upon reaching the Master Sword's resting place, Link pulls the sword from its pedestal, wielding it once more. In a clearing of the forest is a napping Yoshi, who Link at first pays no mind to. However, the Halberd soon flies over the clearing, dropping Shadow Bugs which soon form into Primids. At this point, Link and Yoshi form a team and battle through the enemies while in pursuit of the Halberd, only to lose their aforementioned target as it flies far off into the distance, though they quickly continue their pursuit.

Link in the SSE

Link's next appearance plays out depending on which princess is saved earlier on in the story. If Peach was saved, Link and Yoshi do battle with a Shadowbug clone of Peach (who had recently been turned into a trophy by Bowser) after it attempted to turn an unsuspecting Mario and Pit into trophies until Link prevented the attack by slicing the Dark Cannon in half. Upon defeating the clone of Peach, Link is attacked by Mario, who witnessed the defeat of Peach's copy as it reverts into Shadowbugs and drifts away, apparently mistaking it for the real Peach. Then Link and Yoshi fight him and Pit. If Zelda is saved earlier on, then it is she who is cloned, and Mario and Pit fight the clone of her, and must then fend off an attack by Link and Yoshi, whom Link thinks Mario killed the real Zelda. After the defeat (and subsequent trophification) of Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi, King Dedede arrives in a cargo, and snatches the trophies of the fallen duo with an arm attached to it. Fortunately, Kirby (who had accompanied Peach/Zelda earlier) appears and frees the two trophies, and revives them as well. Upon revival, Pit/Link fires an arrow at the incoming cargo, slowing it down a little. The five characters then form an alliance and pursue Dedede.

During their pursuit, they find Dedede's cargo (now empty) parked outside of a cave, and decide to enter it. After getting out of the cave, they find Dedede's trashed hideout, and, upon finding a hole in the wall, they decide to enter it. After they get out of the hole, they find Bowser, who Mario tries to attack until Bowser raises Peach/Zelda's trophy as a shield, forcing him to miss. Pit then fires an arrow at Bowser, which he barely dodges, before escaping in his Koopa Clown Car.

They then pursue the Ancient Minister in a desert, trying to stop him from detonating another Subspace Bomb. Mario and Link begin to approach the Minister while dodging the lasers he fires at them. Despite their best efforts, the Subspace Bomb still explodes while the heroes barely escape the blast.

Link later appears after the team makes its way to the desert, where they aid another group (consisting of Marth, Ike, the Ice Climbers, Lucas, and the Pokémon Trainer) in fighting off the Subspace Army. Later, Link and Zelda are both present when meeting Tabuu, but they are defeated by Tabuu's Offwaves. If Link and Zelda's trophy forms are retrieved after the initial attack by Tabuu, they will both be shown agreeing to revive Ganondorf (who was turned into a trophy earlier on when he tried to attack Tabuu on his own), at which point they show him where their common target is. Link helps the other heroes throughout the rest of the story.

Costume gallery

File:Alt-link3.jpg

Link's Changeable clothing.

Origin

Even though Link's design is from Twilight Princess, he has blond hair in Brawl, and dirty blond/brown hair in Twilight Princess. His face is also somewhat more slender and sharper, with smaller eyes and a more fierce expression - possibly hinting that this is a slightly older version of the Link in Twilight Princess. This is also supported by the fact that the Master Sword is a lot smaller compared to him than it was in Twilight Princess (though, it could also be simply be that the sword has been scaled down, like his bombs). It is also possible that this is the original Link from Ocarina of Time but with his Twilight Princess look. A fairy appears alongside Link as he pulls the Master Sword from its pedestal when he is introduced in the Subspace Emissary, and this fairy also appears in Link's side taunt, in which Link takes it out of his pocket, letting it fly round him once before putting it back. This fairy could be Navi, from Ocarina of Time, who got Link's attention in that game by flying around him. Navi was never in Twilight Princess, although a fairy was used as the pointer when you pointed the Wii Remote at the screen. It is often be theorized that this is a merging of several Links, or a general Link that represents his universe in Brawl, much like Snake could be either Solid Snake or Naked Snake.

Trivia

• Link, Ice Climbers, and Toon Link are the only characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl who are left-handed.
• Link uses battering items such as the Beam Sword and Lip's Stick with his right hand in order to wield his sword with his left. This prevents him from using his shield when holding items.
• Link, Bowser, Luigi, Toon Link, and Yoshi are the only characters to wear their default costumes in team battles, when they are on the green team.
• Link takes a longer time to pick up multiple items, such as Food, than other characters.

External links

• Link's page at Smash Bros. Dojo!!.
• Link Character Guide at SWF
• Link's hitbox size of each of his moves
• Link's Moves - History Behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl, by CrappyCaptureDevice (part 1) (part 2)