Link (SSBB)

Link in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Triforce Slash
Tier	F (35)

Link (リンク, Link) 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.

Link is currently ranked 35th in Bottom Tier. Link is equipped with a useful DACUS that helps his mobility, as well as some camping ability, some of the best overall reach in his attacks, great momentum cancelling and the third best potential vertical endurance, and many KO moves. Like his Melee incarnation, he still has plenty of projectiles, all of which can be useful at different times. Despite his projectiles and large number of advanced techniques, however, Link in general has poor mobility due to poor dashing speed, air speed, and jumping ability, poor out of shield options, one of the worst aerial games, and sluggish moves in general (his fastest ground attack, jab, has a startup lag of 7 frames, and fastest aerial, back aerial, is 6 frames). The most crippling flaw of Link is his recovery, that has been heavily nerfed from Melee to one of the worst recoveries in Brawl, and often prevents him from fulfilling his amazing endurance potential; Spin Attack doesn't give him much horizontal distance (and barely any without prior momentum), his bombs are less effective for recovery, and his hookshot can no longer wall grapple. This has resulted in terrible match-ups against most characters, and terrible tournament results.

Blah blah blah King Dedede is better blah

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: Black ops 2. 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 percentages.			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	4%	95	10	15	0	100	40
				Blade		98					48
				Arm, Body							40
			Hit 2	Tip	3%	93	26	29			30
				Blade		90					33
				Arm							37
				Body							40
			Hit 3	Tip	10%	80	41	45	70	80	0
				Blade		90
				Arm	9%
				Body	8%
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. When sweetspotted and fully charged, it can KO at 77%.	Hit 1	Tip	14%	75	9	11	26	90	0
				Blade, Body	16%
				Arm	17%
			Hit 2	Tip, Blade, Body	16%		20	22	20
				Arm	17%
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. The 2nd hit, when sweetspotted and fully charged, can KO at 69%.	Hit 1	Sword	15%	*	15	17	25	90	0
				Non-sword	14%
			Hit 2	Sword	17%	48	32	34	20
				Arm	20%				25
				Body	19%				30
Neutral aerial	Drop Kick	Does a flying jump-kick. Is a "sex kick". 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. Can be comboed with Spin Attack.	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 believed that this is because Jigglypuff's very low weight causes the animation to occur too quickly, the hitbox appearing and vanishing before it is checked for.	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: Swings his sword twice and twirls the sword before sheathing it. Similar to his Twilight Princess victory pose, which he performs after defeating a boss, learning a hidden sword technique, or sheathing his sword upon the defeat of harder-to-defeat enemies.
• Down: Link's mysterious taunt that previously appeared in the original Super Smash Bros.. 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 the attacking pose used by the Link from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
• Side: Link takes out a fairy that appears similar to Navi from Ocarina of Time. The fairy then proceeds to fly around as Link watches it until it returns to his pocket.

Idle poses

• Link twirls his sword. Similar to the twirling he makes when targeting an enemy in Twilight Princess.
• Link looks at the screen, then looks back afterwards.

Cheer

Link's NTSC and PAL cheer

Scroo u lunk u fkn scrb

Pineapple

In competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Notable players

See also: Category:Link professionals (SSBB)

•  Izaw
•  KirinBlaze
•  Legan
•  Mr. R
•  Scabe
•  Scizor

Tier placement and history

Despite the considerable power buffs he received in Brawl, his amazing momentum cancelling, and being given a useable DACUS, Link has perpetually hovered among Brawl's bottom four characters since the first tier list. Link's terrible and extremely gimpable recovery has always significantly limited Link's survivability even in the early inexperienced Brawl metagame, and his very sluggish attacks and terrible mobility significantly inhibited Link's ability to effectively compete since day one. Link has had some renowned players, such as KirinBlaze and Legan in the United States, Izaw in Europe, and Scabe in Australia, but none of these players have ever achieved much beyond the local level, and they have all since dropped Link for a better character (such as Izaw dropping Link for Sheik), or stopped playing Brawl competitively altogether. As such, Link's competitive prospects have never gotten any better over the years, and while he isn't usually thought of as a candidate for worst character, it's extremely unlikely Link will ever rise beyond the bottom tier, as he perpetually competes with Jigglypuff for the 35th spot on the tier list.

In event matches

• Event 10: All-Star Battle Regulars: Link is one of the opponents that must be fought in this event. All opponents are starter characters in the original smash bros.
• Event 18: Dark Link Duel: Link must fight Dark Link in a 200 H.P. battle.
• Event 33: Advent of the Evil King: As Ganondorf, the player must defeat Link, Zelda, and Pit. The player has 2 stocks while the opponents have 1 each.
• Co-Op Event 7: Battle of the Dark Sides: A team of Link and Samus must defeat a team of Dark Link and Dark Samus in a 200 H.P. battle.
• Co-Op Event 13: Blades of the Quick and Mighty: A team of Marth and Ike must defeat Link, Meta Knight and Ganondorf in a 1 stock battle.

Role in The 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 she 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.

Playable appearances

• The Forest
• The Lake Shore
• The Cave
• The Wilds (Part II)
• The Canyon
• Entrance to Subspace
• The Great Maze (if rescued in Subspace (Part II))

Exclusive stickers

These stickers can only be used by Link, or a select few including him:

• Boomerang: [Weapon] Attack +4
• Colin: [Specials: Direct] Attack +4
• Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule: [Electric] Attack +31
• Darknut: [Slash] Attack +13
• Epona & Link: [Arm, Leg] Attack +9
• Fierce Deity Link: [Slash] Attack +21
• Happy Mask Salesman: [Leg] Attack +9
• Hylian Shield (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess): [Slash] Resistance +10
• Lantern: [Flame] Resistance +7
• Legend of Outset: [Arm] Attack +26
• Linebeck: [Throwing] Attack +20
• Link (The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past): [Electric] Resistance +31
• Link (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess): [Slash] Resistance +27
• Link (The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker): [Flame] Attack +31
• Link with Goron Mask: [Slash] Attack +17
• Link's Grandma: [Arm, Leg] Attack +2
• Lon Lon Milk: Launch Power +18
• Midna & Wolf Link: [Leg] Attack +26
• Moblin: [Slash] Attack +15
• Octorok: [Leg] Attack +4
• Piece of Heart: Heart Container Effect +50
• Salvatore: [Electric] Attack +9
• Sheik: [Body, Spin] Attack +17
• Tingle (The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker): [Flame] Resistance +24
• Young Zelda (The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap): [Normal] Resistance +16
• Zant: [Weapon] Attack +7
• Zelda (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time): [Flame] Resistance +18

Alternate costumes

Link's alternate costumes in Brawl

Origin

Even though he is the Link from Twilight Princess, he has received a few tweaks to his design for Brawl. The first is that he has blond hair in Brawl, while it appears to be dirty blond or light brown in Twilight Princess. His face is also slightly more slender and sharper, with smaller eyes and a fiercer 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, although it could also be simply be that the sword has been scaled down like his bombs. One curious addition is that a fairy appears alongside Link as he pulls the Master Sword from its pedestal when he is introduced in the Subspace Emissary. It also appears in his side taunt, in which Link takes it out of his pocket and lets it fly round him once before putting it back. This fairy could be Navi, the fairy from Ocarina of Time who aided the Link of that game by giving him hints while flying around him. Although Navi never appeared in Twilight Princess, a fairy is used as the pointer in the Wii version of the game when the Wii Remote is pointed at the screen. Theories regarding Link's design mention that it is either the result of a merging of several Links, or that he is a general Link that represents the Zelda universe in Brawl.

Trophy

Link's trophy is obtained by clearing Classic Mode with Link.

Link's trophy in Brawl

Description

A young man who emerged to rescue Hyrule from peril. He's the bearer of the Triforce of Courage who fights to keep Ganondorf from conquering the world. His green outfit is a constant throughout the series. He's a skilled swordsman, horseman, and archer. He's also proficient with bombs and boomerangs.

: The Legend of Zelda

: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Trivia

• Link, Pit, 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.

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)