Link (SSB4)

Link in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in Brawl
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Triforce Slash

Link (リンク, Link) was confirmed to be a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4 on June 11th, 2013 during the E3 2013 Nintendo Direct. He was also among the first wave of amiibo figures that are compatible with SSB4.

As in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Akira Sasanuma reprises the voice of Link in all versions, but through voice clips recycled from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Attributes

Link is a heavyweight character with a strong projectile game, as well as a decent combo game with moves such as his down throw, up tilt, jab, and down tilt. While his attributes are balanced overall, his strength is generally above average and his Master Sword gives him good range and serves as a disjointed hitbox, while his mobility and frame data are below average. Armed with his various projectiles, a Hylian Shield that blocks opposing projectiles if Link is standing still or walking, and a versatile recovery, Link is a durable and generally defensive character who relies on appropriate use of both camping and his combo game to be successful, often dependent on the matchup.

Link's special moves all have their uses. Hero's Bow is a strong option against characters who struggle at approaching and good long ranged pressure, Gale Boomerang is a decent spacing option, and Spin Attack can be used to punish rolls while providing much better recovery than in Brawl. However, Link's bombs are perhaps the most versatile tool in his arsenal, as they have many uses. Throwing a bomb at a foe can cause enough hitstun to help Link's approach and/or set up combos. If the opponent shields, the bomb simply bounces off, allowing it to be used for spacing. Even holding a bomb long enough for it to explode can be useful; while doing so damages Link, it gives him a small vertical boost and removes him from being in a helpless state, aiding his recovery and/or allowing him to break out of combos.

Despite this, Link retains some of the flaws from his previous appearances, even though his recovery (one of his most significant flaws in Smash 64 and Brawl) is no longer a major problem. Most notably, Link is susceptible to combos from faster characters such as Sheik; as a result, he must make good use of reads, spacing and camping to avoid giving the advantage to such characters. To this end, his neutral aerial is a sex kick that allows him to break out of many combos, and is therefore one of his most useful moves.

Overall, Link is a well-balanced character and a good choice for beginners, who is capable both as a zoner and a spacing-oriented close combatant. However, due to his slightly sluggish frame data, he must be played defensively to be used to his full potential, and must use the various tools at his disposal to avoid being overwhelmed by the speedy and combo-oriented characters that are prevalent in the metagame.

Changes from Brawl

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Link has been notably buffed in his transition from Brawl, in which he was considered the fourth worst character. He received many faster and stronger attacks in exchange for slightly less damage output, these buffs overall outweighing the nerfs he received. Both his ground and aerial games have been improved, and his combo game has strengthened as a whole. His grab game has also considerably improved, with some grabs having better angle placements or knockback altogether. He also is one of the more potent edge-guarders in the game, with his down aerial now capable of meteor smashing, as well as more offensive options against opponents on the ledge. Additionally, significant buffs to Spin Attack and his Clawshot as a tether recovery grant him excellent survivability. Lastly, his camping game has also been improved in many areas, most notably his Bombs being significantly buffed, and the speed increase on his Bow.

Link also benefits from the general physics changes brought to SSB4, such as the new edge-trump mechanic further helping his already great recovery, as well as being able to utilize and maintain rage effectively due to his high knockback attacks and strong endurance. Ultimately, Link is significantly better than how he was in Brawl and is virtually as good as was in Melee, though his current viability is somewhat debatable by many professionals due to the majority of the returning cast having also been buffed to varying degrees.

Aesthetics

• Link once again appears as his The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess incarnation. However, instead of retaining the subdued color scheme used in Twilight Princess and carried over to Brawl, his overall color scheme is now noticeably brighter to appear in line with the more vibrant aesthetics used within SSB4. This is coincidentally similar to Link's appearances in other games within The Legend of Zelda series that use a more colorful aesthetic than Twilight Princess.
• Master Sword's trail is now an afterimage-heavy blue blur with white accents, rather than a fully blue blur like in Brawl.
• Link has a new standing idle animation.

Attributes

• Link walks slightly slower (1.2 → 1.188).
• Link dashes faster (1.328 → 1.3944).
• Link's air speed is faster (0.8084 → 0.88).
• Link's gravity is higher (0.089 → 0.096), slightly worsening his vertical endurance.
• Link's roll animations are now based on those of the Link from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
• Hylian Shield can now block projectiles even when walking. Additionally, Link now flinches when a projectile or bomb explosion hits his Hylian Shield, making it more reliable when attempting to block multiple projectiles. It normally blocks any projectile in front of him, even while crouching or during idle poses.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack deals 2% less damage (12% → 10%).
• Forward tilt has less ending lag.
• Link has a new Dash attack: a jumping slash that resembles the Jump Attack from Twilight Princess and by the Link in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. It is significantly stronger, capable of KOing under 150%, and has a much larger hitbox that knocks opponents horizontally, vertically, diagonally or even backward depending on which hitbox connects.
• Dash attack has considerably more start-up.
• Up tilt's knockback has been significantly increased, now being able to KO at low percentages.
• Forward smash is stronger, with its first hit being able to KO if it hits near or at the tip. Additionally, its second hit can follow up from the first hit like Toon Link's.
• Both hits of Forward smash deal less damage (15%/20% → 14%/13%) and the second hit has more ending lag.
• The window of time that the attack button can be pressed after the first hit of forward smash in able to activate the second hit has been significantly tightened, leading to less accidental activation of the second hit, but making it so that one cannot use the delay as much in order to hit with the second hit.
• Up smash's final hit deals 1% more damage (10%/9%/8% → 11%/10%/9%) and deals much more knockback.
• Down smash's first hit deals more knockback while its second hit is now a powerful semi-spike.

Aerial attacks

• Clean neutral aerial has been split into two hits. As a result, it no longer has a consistent damage out and instead each hit has a specific damage output (10% → 11%/9%).
• Neutral aerial's late hits have lower knockback overall and are capable of setting up combos thanks to its very low ending lag.
• Forward aerial is much faster and has less ending lag and landing lag.
• Forward aerial deals more damage (hit 1: 9% → 11%, hit 2: 12% → 13%).
• Back aerial has faster start-up.
• Back aerial deals 3% less damage (11% → 8%).
• Up aerial's hitbox is more disjointed, allowing for Link to get in better KOs, as well as being a primary KOing option in general. It also has less landing lag and ending lag, makes Link's hitbox shorter for a bit, and can now juggle opponents, drastically improving the move overall.
• Down aerial can meteor smash during the start of the attack, similarly to Toon Link's in Brawl. Link's down aerial also experiences significantly less ending lag and landing lag, providing him now with a safer attack when bouncing off opponents, and allowing him to recover if falling off the stage.
• Down aerial deals 4% less damage (22% → 18%). The strong hit now KOs in the 110%-130% range instead of under 75% and is more difficult to land.
• Grab aerial deals 4% less damage (10% → 6%).
• Grab aerial covers much more distance when used as a tether and comes out much faster as an attack.

Throws/other attacks

• Grab has less start-up and ending lag.
• Edge attack's animation has been changed. It is now a crouching thrust that resembles the Crouch Stab used by the Link from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.

Special moves

• Hero's Bow charges faster.
• Gale Boomerang has more knockback and now launches opponents vertically, making it much better for follow-ups.
• Link's recovery with Spin Attack is much better overall, as it needs much less momentum than before and its vertical and horizontal distances are much higher and farther, respectively.
• Spin Attack's animation has slightly changed. Link now spins the Master Sword at subtly different angles, although this has no obvious change in power or range compared to Brawl.
• If a Bomb explodes due to colliding with an opponent, the explosion does not hurt Link.
• Bomb fuses are shorter and Link can attack and explode his own Bombs in the air after throwing them, improving his Bomb-aided recovery.
• Bombs only deal 5% damage at point-blank range, but deal 8% damage when hitting the feet of the opponent.
• Bombs now absorb large projectiles, such as a fully charged Charge Shot and a fully charged Aura Sphere, which aids Link's camping game and defense.
• Triforce Slash deals 23% less damage (83% → 60%).

Version exclusives

• Bombs are bigger. However, this does not seem to affect gameplay.
• Prior to update 1.0.8, Clawshot, as a grab, will come out shorter and will drop, but also ends faster.
• Clawshot no longer falls to the ground as it retracts, much like the Hookshot in SSB.

Update history

Link has been buffed in game updates, but received nerfs also. Update 1.0.6 slightly nerfed him by reducing his KOing potential and ability to rack up damage. However, update 1.0.8 brought Link significant buffs in the form of a much more effective grab game and better KOing options; the latter of which helps mitigate the nerfs to his KOing potential that update 1.0.6 brought. In update 1.1.0 his grab game was slightly buffed as his dash and pivot grabs are one frame faster. 1.1.3 buffed Link's KOing potential. Finally, he was indirectly buffed due to the changes on the shield mechanics in updates 1.1.0 and 1.1.1, as the increased shieldstun and the fact hitlag modifiers now apply on shielding opponents improve Link's close-range game by making his moves safer on shield. This has resulted in him being viewed as more viable than how he was during the initial release of SSB4.

1.0.4

• The non-tip of forward smash's first hit has significantly reduced base knockback (60 → 47). This allows it to more easily set up the second hit.

1.0.5

• Quickfire Bow and Power Bow have been changed to match how they function in the Wii U version. The Quickfire Bow charges, comes out and ends faster, while the Power Bow is the opposite.
• Hylian Shield now blocks Blaster's lasers.

1.0.6

• Spin Attack comes out 3 frames sooner, ends 4 frames sooner, KOs 17% earlier, and deals 2% more damage when uncharged: 12% → 14%.
• Spin Attack's back half KOs 19% later.
• Spin Attack and Shocking Spin Attack's second hitboxes' Z-offsets increased: 6.6 → 7.
• Neutral attack's first hit ends sooner (27 frames → 19) and no longer has any interruptibility frames, removing Link's "Jab Cancel Death Combo".[1]
• Non-tipped dash attack deals 1% less damage: 13% → 12%.
• Nop-tipped Dash attack's knockback growth decreased: 78 → 72.
• Dash attack's hitbox comes out sooner: frame 21 → 20.
• Down tilt's knockback growth has been reduced and no longer meteor smashes characters hanging on a ledge except for Charizard.
• Forward smash's sourspot's position has been altered.
• Portions of forward smash are now irreversible.
• Down aerial's reach increased by 50%.

1.0.8

• Down tilt comes out faster, but deals less knockback and 1% less damage: 12% → 11%.
• Up smash connects better, with all three hits hitting when the attack connects. The first two hits, instead of stunning the opponent, now drag them toward Link.
• Clawshot now behaves like it does in the 3DS version of the game. Link's grab range has been doubled in terms of Clawshot length and grab distance. Clawshot also grabs just before it droops back down to the ground, while Link's standing grab has been sped up by two frames.
• All grabs have reduced lag: 66/77/79 → 61/65/66.
• Forward throw has less ending lag: 39 → 34.
• Down throw's launching angle altered: 110° → 83°. This allows for better follow-ups and juggling.
• Down throw's second hit deals 1% less damage: 4% → 3%. However, this results in lower knockback, which allows for better follow-ups and juggling.
• Spin Attack's knockback growth (stages 1-3) increased: 84/80/80 → 85/85/82.
• Shocking Spin Attack's knockback growth (stage 2) increased: 80 → 82.

1.1.0

• Spin Attack's hitbox placements adjusted.
• Dash and pivot grabs come out 1 frame faster.

1.1.1

• Due to receiving an additional hitbox, Shocking Spin deals 14% more damage: 25% → 39%.
• Shocking Spin's original hitboxes deal more damage: 14% → 16%, 9% → 11%/12%, 7% → 8%, 5% → 6%.

1.1.3

• Forward smash's first hit knockback growth: 85 → 89.
• Down smash's first hit angle slightly changed: 75 → 78.
• Down smash's first hit base knockback: 26 → 40.
• Down smash's first hit knockback growth slightly reduced: 90 → 88.
• Forward aerial's first hit has increased damage (8% → 11%) and base knockback (10 → 20).
• Forward aerial's first hit has slightly decreased knockback growth: 132 → 130.
• Forward aerial's second hit damage increased: 10% → 13%.
• Forward aerial's second hit has less knockback growth (105 → 100).
• Down aerial's second bounce deals more damage: 8% → 11%
• Down aerial no longer meteor smashes grounded opponents.
  • Instead it has a new early hitbox that only hits grounded opponents. It deals less knockback, base knockback is 25, knockback growth is 40. It's angle is 55. This allows it to Link to set up into the second bounce of his attack, allowing him to link up into it as late as 60% damage and can deal a massive amount of damage (a total of 26% raw if both hits connect).
• Spin Attack and Shocking Spin have reduced ending lag.

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			2.5%	A diagonal sword slash followed by a horizontal slash, with a lunging stab finisher. Loosely based the final blow that the Link from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time dealt to Ganon. Is a natural combo with fast startup and little knockback.
			2.5%
			5%
Forward tilt			13%	An overhand sword swing with moderate startup but high knockback.
Up tilt			9%	A half-moon slice above Link's head. Has good juggling capabilities at low percentages, great combo potential at medium percentages and decent KOing potential at somewhat higher percentages.
Down tilt			11%	A low-angled sword swipe across the ground with vertical knockback. Meteor smashes opponents (except those hanging on the ledges as of update 1.0.6) in contact with the base of the sword to Link's arm. Has great combo potential and is sometimes safe on block due to its fast startup and ending lag.
Dash attack			14% (tip), 13% (non-tip)	The Jump Attack, a leaping downward slash used by the Link from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Deals horizontal knockback when tipped and vertical knockback when hit close, and will KO at early percents.
Forward smash			14% (tip), 7% (non-tip)	Link lunges forward with a wide sword swing in front of him, dealing good damage and knockback when tipped. The base of his sword has extremely little knockback, designed to naturally combo into an optional second hit: a sword swing with greater KO power.
			13% (tip), 12% (non-tip)
Up smash			4% (hit 1), 3% (hit 2), 11%/10%/9% (hit 3)	Three half-moon sword swings above Link's head, which the first two slashes combo naturally into each other, and the third finishes off. Has great KO potential at higher percentages.
Down smash			17%/16%/14% (hit 1), 12%/11%/10% (hit 2)	A low slash in front and then behind Link. First hit sends opponents at a vertical trajectory while having slightly increased damage and knockback the closer one is to Link. Second hit is a powerful semi-spike with slightly increased damage and knockback on his blade.
Neutral aerial			11%/9% (clean), 6% (late)	Link performs a flying kick. Acts as a sex kick with relatively fast startup and little landing lag. Deals more damage closer to his boot, as well as more knockback during the first few frames of hit.
Forward aerial			11% (hit 1), 13% (hit 2)	Swings his sword twice while spinning 360˚. While the second hit has more knockback, it is inconvenient to use, as it can only be landed if the first hit misses.
Back aerial			3% (hit 1), 5% (hit 2)	Two back kicks. The have very little landing lag, but deal low damage.
Up aerial		Jump Thrust	15% (clean), 13% (late)	The Up Thrust, a leaping upward thrust used by the Link from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. It has moderate landing lag unless used alongside a full hop. This move is quite powerful and has a long-lasting hitbox that is difficult to dodge, making it a good KOing option.
Down aerial		Downward Thrust	15% (early), 18% (clean), 15% (late)	The Down Thrust, a leaping downward thrust used by the Links in Zelda ll: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. It's possible for Link to "bounce" on opponents into a second hit. The early hit is a powerful meteor smash. If the strong non-meteor hitbox lands, it results in considerable knockback being capable of KOing under 130%. However, it is difficult to land a strong non-meteor hitbox than the meteor hitbox, as it requires Link to hit with the rising hilt on startup, or immediately after the initial meteor hit, but before the weak hit.
Grab aerial			2.5% (hit 1), 4% (hit 2)	Fires his Clawshot forward in the air with great range and no landing lag. Link can cancel his air dodge at any point via his tether, however it will not cancel the landing lag suffered from the dodge. The Clawshot also serves as a tether recovery that auto-snaps the ledge, covering great horizontal distance.
Grab			—	Link fires his Clawshot forwards. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, the chain snaps straight back once fully extended, like the Hookshot from Super Smash Bros.; in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the chain drags on the ground as it does in Melee and Brawl.
Pummel			2.1%	Hits the opponent with the hilt of the Master Sword. A fairly fast pummel.
Forward throw			3% (hit 1), 4% (throw)	Link releases the opponent from his pummel and front kicks them away.
Back throw			3% (hit 1), 4% (hit 2)	Link takes his opponent behind him and back kicks them away.
Up throw			5%/4% (hit 1), 2% (throw)	Link raises the opponent above him and slashes upward. A decent KO throw at high percentages.
Down throw			3% (hit 1), 4% (throw)	Link drops the opponent onto the ground and elbow drops them. It can combo reliably into his up tilt.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Does two slashes front and back.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Does another two slashes front and back.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Essentially the same as his other two floor attacks.
Edge attack Edge getups			7%	Stabs forwards while climbing up.
Neutral special	Default	Hero's Bow	4%-12%	Link equips his bow, with the arrows serving as projectiles. Charging increases the speed, distance and damage dealt by an arrow.
	Custom 1	Power Bow	4%-20%	At the cost of heavily increasing the charge time of the move, the arrows deal very heavy knockback when fully charged, enough to KO at medium high percents. Uncharged or half-charged arrows have extremely limited range and power, dropping near Link's feet with no charging.
	Custom 2	Quickfire Bow	4%-8%	Shoots magical arrows that charge quickly and travel in a straight line. Decently spammable, but with low range and damage.
Side special	Default	Gale Boomerang	7% (near), 5% (middle), 0% (far/return)	A projectile which damages opponents as it flies away and drags opponents towards Link during its return. Can be angled up or down. A "smash throw" (similar to performing a smash attack) increases the distance the boomerang can travel.
	Custom 1	Boomerang	9% (near), 7% (middle), 5% (far), 3% (return)	Behaves like the Boomerang from pre-Brawl, which deals damage both when the boomerang is thrown and when it returns. It has less knockback, but can be aimed easier.
	Custom 2	Ripping Boomerang	4% (near), 2% (middle), 1.5% (far), 0.7% (return)	Travels across a much shorter range than the Gale Boomerang, but also deals multiple hits of low damage and adds a stunning effect to the opponents. Great for setting up combos.
Up special	Default	Spin Attack	12%/9%/7%/5% (ground), 4% (air hit 1), 2% (air hits 2-8), 4% (air hit 9)	This move functions differently when grounded and airborne; an aerial Spin Attack is used as recovery which grants Link great vertical distance. Hits 8 times in the air. A grounded Spin Attack is akin to most Zelda games, and functions similarly to a smash attack with great knockback.
	Custom 1	Shocking Spin	16%/11%/12%/8%/6% (ground), 4% (air hit 1), 1% (air hits 2-4), 6% (air hit 5), 14% (additional hitbox)	A much more powerful electric version of the Spin Attack that has great KO power. The downside is that Link's recovery is much shorter and has poor horizontal motion. The Shocking Spin Functions very similarily to the Spin attack's Smash 64 iteration. The aerial version can semi-spike, but cannot hit backwards.
	Custom 2	Whirling Leap	0%	A special type of Spin Attack that can only be used as a recovery move. It produces no hits and thus, no damage whatsoever, but actually travels much higher and much further than the normal recovery, even to the point of not relying on momentum and performing multiple left and right movements.
Down special	Default	Bomb	5% (upper body), 8% (feet), 9% (down smash aerial, feet)	An item based projectile Link pulls out. On contact with a surface, it detonates, dealing damage to opponents and can hurt Link as well (though the bombs do not cause damage to Link if the explosion hits an opponent). The explosion can grant him an extra Spin Attack if used skillfully. An odd function is that it will deal 8% damage when it hits the feet.
	Custom 1	Giant Bomb	8%-10%	A massive bomb with a huge explosion hitbox, which deal more damage and knockback. However, they cannot blow up when thrown at the opponent, and blow up based on time or an attack. They deal damage based on range.
	Custom 2	Meteor Bomb	5%	Weaker bombs with a noticeably short fuse. However, they meteor smash anyone hit by them with moderate knockback, which can affect Link as well if a bomb detonates in his hand. On the ground, it will halt opponents in their tracks, giving considerable stun. It is not practical for recoveries in any way, as the bombs simply meteor smash Link, though it allows him to survive vertical KOs longer with luck.
Final Smash		Triforce Slash	1% (first hit), 3% (hits 2-15), 2% (hit 16), 15% (hit 17)	Link sends out a beam of light from the Triforce of Courage symbol on the back of his hand to stun enemies in front of him. If the beam comes in contact with an enemy, Link dashes forward and slashes them repeatedly while they are trapped in a Triforce-shaped energy field, with the last hit being a powerful stab and launching the trapped enemies away.

On-screen appearance

• Small whirlwinds appear on the battlefield, from which Link appears. Link then proceeds to equip the Master Sword and Hylian Shield.

Taunts

• Up taunt: Swings his sword twice and twirls the sword before sheathing it. This is similar to his victory pose in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which he performs after defeating a boss, learning a hidden sword technique, or sheathing his sword upon the defeat of harder-to-defeat enemies.
• Side taunt: Link takes out a fairy that appears similar to Navi from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The fairy then proceeds to fly around as Link watches it until it returns to his pocket.
• Down taunt: Link pulls in his right knee and draws his sword back behind his head in a threatening battle pose. It originates from Super Smash Bros. and may be loosely based on the attacking pose used by the Link from The Legend of Zelda: The Adventure of Link.

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt

Idle poses

• Takes a battle ready stance.
• Looks behind himself.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer
Description	Link! Link! Link!	Lin-k!
Pitch	Group chant	Group chant

Victory poses

A flourished remix directly from Brawl. It is a remix of the tune that will play when Link obtained a Triforce Piece in The Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

• Link stabs his sword forwards, holds it up to his face, then thrusts it to the sky while letting out a kiai.
• Three swipes with his sword and looks to the right. (His "character chosen" animation in Super Smash Bros., but ends with him facing a different direction.)
• Swipes his sword once, spins it behind his head, then sheaths it. This is based on his special sheathing animation in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess which occurs if he puts away his sword immediately after defeating an enemy. Link does a similar thing during his up taunt.

In competitive play

Official Custom Moveset Project

Character	Custom sets available
Link	1211	1213	2211	2213	1311
	1313	2311	2313	1231	3211

Notable players

•  Drigo Toes
•  LinkEa
•  HyruleHero
•  Izaw
•  Rooky
•  Scizor

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• A Fated Battle: Link must fight Ganondorf in a 2 stock battle. If the battle lasts through the third transition phase on the Castle Siege stage, two Dark Links will appear.
• All-Star Battle: Regulars: Link is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are starter characters from the original Super Smash Bros. game.
• Princess Punch-Up!: Link serves as an ally in a 1 stock battle against Peach and Mario.
• The Demon King and the Goddess: Ganondorf must initially defeat a team of Link and Zelda. After the two are defeated or some time has passed, Giant Palutena appears and the player must defeat her as well.
• The Ultimate Swordsman: Link is one of the fighters Ike must defeat. All opponents wield swords.

Co-op Events

• A Fairy Nice Trip: Link and Pac-Man must survive against 4 Kirbys until the stage reaches Fairy-Land.
• Final Battle Team-Up: Link (in his dark alternate costume) is one of the opponents that two players fight in this event. All opponents are antagonists in their respective universes.
• The Ultimate Battle: Two players choose a character and must defeat the entire roster.

Alternate costumes

Trophies

Link

Green tunic? Pointy hat? Yep, it's Link, all right! In this game, his sword and shield make for effective attacking and blocking, and his bow, bombs, and boomerang will spice up any battle. He's even brought his Clawshot for grabbing enemies and edges. Jeez, just how much stuff can Link carry?

Green clothes? Pointy hat? Yep, it's Link, all right! In this game, his sword and shield make for effective attacking and blocking, and his bow, bombs, and boomerang will spice up any battle. He's even brought his Clawshot for grabbing enemies and edges. The hero of Hyrule is really kitted out for a brawl!

: The Legend of Zelda (08/1987)

: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (04/1992)

Link (Alt.)

If Link was on a desert island and could only pick one item, it'd be his powerful sword. This weapon is key to his down-air attack, a move with great launching potential and the ability to strike twice. He can also strike twice with his side smash—the second blow deals more damage and launches harder.

Of all of his weapons, Link's sword may be the most lethal. His down air attack has incredible launching power. What's more, he'll bounce up afterwards, allowing for a follow-up strike. His side smash can also be followed up with a more powerful second blow that sends foes flying - just press the button again straight away.

: The Legend of Zelda (08/1987)

: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (04/1992)

Triforce Slash (Link)

Link makes use of the Triforce of Courage to trap foes, and then he launches a 16-blow combo. The final mighty blow has the power to launch opponents off the stage. When Link prepares the attack, the ray of light he emits must strike a rival, or the attack will fail. Shielding will do nothing to stop this powerful attack.

Link traps a foe in mid-air with the power of the Triforce of Courage, then he delivers a 16-strike sword combo. The final strike has formidable launching power. If the ray of light at the start of the attack doesn't hit, the whole thing ends there. Helpfully, though, the ray of light's range and speed are incredible, and shields won't block it.

• LinkTrophy3DS1.png

  Classic (3DS)

• LinkTrophy3DS2.png

  Alt. (3DS)

• 

  Classic (Wii U)

• 

  Alt. (Wii U)

• 

  Triforce Slash

Gallery

• 

  Link in the Nintendo Direct from April 8th, 2014.

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  Link's amiibo.

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  Link's appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

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  Link's appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  Link's up special in the Wii U version.

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  Link and Pit preparing their arrows.

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  Link's forward tilt with Kirby watching.

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  Link's Spin Attack colliding with Toon Link's against Donkey Kong.

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  Toon Link throws a Bomb at Link.

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  Toon Link and Link use their Spin Attack on the ground.

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  Link's down aerial showing its new meteor smash effect on Samus.

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  Link using the first hit of neutral attack while Marth performs his forward tilt.

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  Link using his Clawshot.

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  His side taunt.

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  Link and Peach on Battlefield.

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  His appearance in the 3DS version, posing with Toon Link.

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  Link stealing a ledge from Mario.

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  Link's and Pit's arrows colliding in the air.

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  Forward aerial.

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  Link using the Gale Boomerang.

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  Link and Samus simultaneously grabbing a ledge with their tether recoveries.

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  The clothes inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

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  The Dark Link costume.

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  Link as he appears on the 3DS cover.

Trivia

• On Link's first victory animation, if the player looks at Link's eyebrows, they can see that Link's eyebrows are lighter, only to go back to their original darker shade once the victory animation ends.