Link (SSBU)

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Link in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Ancient Bow and Arrow

“	Link has been redesigned to match his appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. He can now pick up arrows he's fired, and his bombs have been upgraded to remote bombs, so you can set them off when the timing is just right!	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Link (リンク, Link) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was teased in a trailer released on March 8th, 2018 before being fully confirmed as playable on June 12th, 2018. Link is now voiced by Kengo Takanashi, who reprises his role from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

NOTE: SmashWiki is not speculative. Please refrain from adding detailed data values derived from pre-release gameplay footage, such as the E3 demo. Such data (damage values, launch trajectories, frame data, etc.) are subject to change before the official release.

Link now incorporates many elements from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild into his moveset, such as the Remote Bomb, the Ancient Bow & Ancient Arrow, and the Master Sword's Sword Beam.

Aesthetics

• Link's design is now based off of his appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which brings with it many related changes.
  • Link's default appearance is now the blue Champion's Tunic, with the more traditional green Tunic of the Wild as an alternate costume.
  • Link now takes on a new stance: his legs are further apart, with his sword and shield up at all times.
  • Link now holds the Master Sword with his right hand and shield with his left hand as opposed to previous Smash Bros. games, with many of his animations altered as a result. His body also now faces the screen more often if he is facing right. This references how he holds his sword and shield in Breath of the Wild and other recent Zelda titles such as Skyward Sword.
  • The Master Sword now bears its design from Breath of the Wild, and is much longer.
  • Link has a new on-screen appearance: he now glides using the Paraglider onto the stage.
  • Link's Boxing Ring alias has been changed to "Champion of Hyrule".
• Link has a new taunt where he holds onto the Master Sword with both hands, similar to one of Ike's taunts. It replaces his previous side taunt.
• Link's victory animation where he swings his sword once, twirls it around his head and sheathes it now has him swing it back and then sheathe it.

Attributes

• Universal frame 3 jumpsquat significantly improves Link's historically lacking ground-to-air maneuverability, down from frame 7.
• Link's jump height and dashing speed are noticeably increased.
• The Master Sword is longer than it was in previous installments, increasing the range of Link's sword-based attacks.

Ground Attacks

• The final hit of Link's neutral attack is altered: he now swipes vertically instead of thrusting the sword. This also has an effect on the angle, being more vertical than in previous games.
• Neutral attack's damage has been redistributed, with the first two hits dealing more damage and the third hit doing less.
• Forward tilt now causes the screen to shake once the sword lands to the ground.
• Forward tilt has more ending lag.
• Link has a new up tilt, an overhead arcing slash that now hits from behind first. Due to this, Link is more vulnerable to frontal attacks due to the attack hitting the front later.
• Up tilt no longer encircles Link's entire body, hindering its total horizontal range.
• Up tilt deals more damage.
• Down tilt deals less damage.
• Dash attack's initial lunge provides less distance, decreasing the move's range, but allowing Link to hit opponents more reliably.
• Dash attack's sweetspot deals more damage.
• When at 0% damage, the first swing of Link's forward smash will shoot out a spinning sword beam, specifically the one seen in Breath of the Wild. This is in reference to numerous Zelda titles, in which Link's sword shoots out sword beams when he is at full health. Further charging the forward smash increases the size and damage of the sword beam itself.
• Down smash comes out slower.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag, with neutral and back aerial in particular now being almost as fast as a hard landing.
• Forward aerial's first hit now has set knockback that reliably links into the second hit. However, the first hit no longer can K.O. opponents as a result, and the damage has been lowered on both hits.
• Forward aerial has been sped up, with the second hit coming out much faster than before.
• Back aerial has a slightly different animation.
• Both hits of back aerial have slightly increased damage.
• Down aerial has a different animation, now producing a more exaggerated downward thrust.

Throws/other attacks

• Link no longer uses the Clawshot for his grabs, instead having standard grabs where he reaches out with one hand. This significantly decreases their lag, but also their range.
• Due to Link's Clawshot being retired, he no longer has a grab aerial or a tether recovery.
  • As a result, Link can now Z-drop his Remote Bombs without triggering the grab aerial's lengthy animation.
• Forward throw and back throw deal less damage.

Special Moves

• Link now uses the Traveler's Bow from Breath of the Wild instead of the Hero's Bow. The arrows were also changed to match corresponding visuals.
• Link's bow charges faster.
• The arrows fired from Link's bow now travel much further when charged at minimum, but also appear to fly noticeably slower than before.
• The arrows fired from Link's Bow can be picked up and thrown after falling to the ground. Additionally, they linger on the ground longer than previous installments and now stick to opponents.
  • Using the Bow while holding an arrow causes Link to fire two arrows in one shot for double damage.
• Link's Boomerang was reverted to its Melee incarnation in place of the Gale Boomerang. There is also a small animation change: If Link's Boomerang is blocked by another projectile, it will drop to the ground and disappear in a puff of smoke before returning to Link's "inventory".
  • This removes the windbox of the previous special entirely, removing any combos Link had with it, as well as removing the ability to push opponents back with it.
  • However, like in Smash 64 and Melee, Link's Boomerang has a returning hitbox that deals damage, interrupts opponents and now allows Link to perform more reliable combos as it returns.
• Boomerang's range has been increased.
• Boomerang's travel speed is slower upon returning.
• Spin Attack's visuals have been updated to be larger and more vibrant in appearance. Additionally, Link can now spin either inwards like in Smash 64, or outwards like in his other appearances.
• Spin Attack's charging animation is changed, now having Link move his arm during the charge. Additionally, it gains a new animation for when Link charges an inward spin.
• Link's new down special is the Remote Bomb Rune, specifically the spherical bomb from Breath of the Wild. Unlike Link's old Bomb, it no longer explodes upon contact, but rather, bounces upon the opponent or object. The Remote Bombs are now detonated by inputting down special again (and will detonate automatically after about 30 seconds), similar to Snake's C4. This, as a result, also changes up Link's recovery tactics and item play substantially.
• Remote Bomb Rune's 30-second fuse allows it to remain in play for much longer than Bomb's 7. Additionally, it cannot be manually detonated when being held by another fighter.
• Remote Bomb Rune has an exponentially larger blast radius than Bomb.
• Remote Bomb Rune deals significantly higher damage and knockback, as well as having a more favorable horizontal angle than Link's previous Bombs. Additionally, the direction in where the opponent is relative to the bomb determines where they are sent, increasing not only its potential combo setups, but also increasing its edge-guarding potential.
• Link can only have one Remote Bomb Rune out on the battlefield at a time, instead of two standard bombs.
• Link has a new Final Smash called the Ancient Bow and Arrow. It is functionally similar to Light Arrow from the previous games, although it only deals a single powerful blow to the first opponent in the arrow's path, alongside any bystanders. Additionally, due to it being functionally similar to Light Arrow, the horizontal range has been increased significantly.

Role in World of Light

Link was among the fighters summoned to the cliffside to fight an army of Master Hands.

Link was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed it's beams of light. Link successfully deflected 2 beams of light with the Hylian Shield (staying true to the Shield's unbreakable nature), however Link lost his footing and was transformed into a spirit along with the rest of the fighters.

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  Official render of Link's Tunic of the Wild outfit.

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  Link taunting on the Great Plateau Tower.

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  Link about to perform his forward smash on Temple.

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  Link performing a Spin Attack on Pac-Man on Spirit Train.

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  Link holding a Heart Container on Great Bay.

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  Link performing his new Final Smash, Ancient Bow and Arrow.

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  About to strike Ganondorf with his dash attack on Skyworld.

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  Struck by Daisy's down smash on Spirit Train.

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  Link struck by Dr. Mario's forward smash on New Pork City.

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  Link, Mario and Samus struck by the Inkling's Splat Roller on Figure-8 Circuit.

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  Link getting hit by Isabelle's forward smash on Luigi's Mansion.

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  Link struck by Roy's neutral aerial on Skyloft.

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  Link, Marth and Shulk advancing towards Rathalos on Coliseum.

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  Link, Pikachu, Bowser and Inkling being attacked by Rathalos on Tortimer Island.

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  Link using Traveler's Bow on Prism Tower.

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  With Mario, Donkey Kong, Samus, Ice Climbers, Pit, Villager and Inkling on Battlefield.

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  With Kirby, Mario, Inkling, Marth, Pit, Ridley and Villager on Battlefield.

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  With all playable The Legend of Zelda veterans on the Great Plateau Tower.

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  With Zelda and Ganondorf on the Great Plateau Tower.

Character Showcase Video

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Trivia

• This marks the first time in the series where Link does not wear his trademark green tunic as a default outfit, both in official art and in-game, as well as the first time Link no longer has his Goron and Zora tunics from Ocarina of Time as his respective red and blue alternate costumes, nor uses a tether. However, his traditional design (the Tunic of the Wild outfit) still appears as an alternate costume, with his new red and blue costumes now being based on two armor sets from Breath of the Wild (the Hylian Tunic and the Royal Uniform, respectively), while both of his doppelgängers still retain their tethers.
• Despite Link's design now being based on Breath of the Wild, Kirby still gains his familiar green cap when copying him. However, this is in line with Link's alternate costume.
• Coincidentally enough, Link is ranked as #3 in order of appearance in the Smash franchise, as the Zelda franchise is revolved around the Triforce, and there are three different playable versions of Link in this game.
• Ironically, in Breath of the Wild, Link's Champion's Tunic cannot be dyed despite being the base for four of his costumes in this game. His Tunic of the Wild can be dyed, but the colors used for the other four costumes (based on this outfit) are not possible in the actual game.
• In the E3 demo of the game, Link's portrait, strangely, used his in-game model as opposed to the render made for him in the game. This was also the case with Mario, Pikachu and Villager.
  • His hat in the Tunic of the Wilds costume was pointed toward the top right, while in his official render, it goes behind his head and is pointed to the left.
• Despite being a recolor of Link's Tunic of the Wild, Link's Fierce Deity costume (carried over from Smash 4) is the only one of the four color variants of that costume that does not show his now-exposed knees.