Smash 4, Character Discussion Revised (#35 Pikachu)

[shadowofchaos]

That's when you FINAL CUTTER SPIKE THEM WORTH IT GO BIG OR GO HOME LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD VIVA LA KIRBY!!!!

If your opponent knows how to tech, that crap is surprisingly east to react to.

That "YA! EI!" takes so much time, the only easier spike to tech is Ganon's.

Edited June 30, 2016 by shadowofchaos

[Jedi]

Didn't even realize you could tech off that haha.

[Jiac]

When's next discussion

[Jedi]

Oh boy are you ready for the salt train? Although we have quite a number of players who use this next character, should be good.

(Image from Kurogane)

The Triforce of Frame Data

Link has arrived, utilizing powerful sword swings, and an assortment of gadgets, he's sure to make you tear your hair out, even if you have a clear advantage in the MU against him, his hitboxes are long reaching, fairly powerful, like his tilts can kill pretty well kind of ridiculously, his fair kills you, he can kill you with a throw at higher %, he has throw combos, he has of course bombs, and his advanced technique of bomb sliding for some (needed) mobility.

So Link has tons of power, and several pecking projectiles, does this mean he's a huge threat in the meta? At the mid and lower levels, quite frankly yes, he's quite dangerous in a skilled players hands, but his weaknesses that can be abused, are too numerous for people to get all that far in super high level play (although there have been a few). While it appears he has tons of strengths, he gets hampered by several factors.

One of which being well, he's a heavy weight, thats a knock against him already, he's easily to juggle (Although he has decent landing options), his moves are fairly laggy, although he has a few poking tools, usually Link has to commit to an action, and if it doesn't hit, or he gets blocked, usually he's susceptible to punishment, poor air mobility and general speed, also hamper his aggro, although bomb slides do help him, it still would be preferable to have better ground speed, his recovery is mediocre, but whats cool is that he can pull out a bomb to blow himself up to get another recovery shot, so he's not entirely helpless, and he can even fake out some edgeguard attempts, although its still not too hard to edgeguard him, he just has a few options more than several characters, including his Claw Shot,

Sadly despite the grab combos I mentioned earlier, if you miss a grab attempt, you'll most likely be eating a hit, but usually Link can confirm grabs with jab or a few other moves, so thats neat at least, his grabs chain into uair and utilt very well, and of course, Usmash. Meanwhile dsmash is also a very interesting move considering the first swing has enough power to kill you vertically and the 2nd swing has enough power to kill you horizontally. His spin attack is also pretty deadly if the first part of it hits you on the ground, giving him yet another kill option.

One of Link's best iterations in smash at the least, and is generally fun to play as, although careful you don't make someone too salty.

Opinions from other players and his mains?

Edited July 1, 2016 by Jedi

[General Horace]

boring character with boring playstyle, even though he's not particularly good he's just not fun to play against

pivot ftilt is really good though

Edited July 1, 2016 by General Horace

[Batter the Beast]

Link's bombs are neat but he sadly lives in the shadow of Toon Link since Toon Link does everything Llink does, but better. I guess Link has a longer sword and a better nair to compensate.

[Refa]

Link is such a fink

I take a drink when he throws everything but the kitchen sink

Whenever I blink, I wish he'd drown in a rink

I think he'd look better in pink

[Ken Masters]

Oh look, is the legendary Hero of Spam!

Better get ready to powershield everyth-

You have been disconnected for idling

Edited July 1, 2016 by Riptor

[Jedi]

And some of you just demotivated one of the Link mains on this forum from actually posting, thanks alot.

There will be punishment if there is that kind of negative comments towards a character and people who may play as them continues, such as getting kicked out of my tournaments. I mean there was nothing of the sort with effing Puff, the worst character in the game.

Edited July 2, 2016 by Jedi

[euklyd]

fuck you guys link is like the most interesting of the low-tiers since he can actually do things in neutral and projectile interplay is legit

edit: I don't think threatening punishment is a very good idea since you're pretty powerless (since you're not a mod), and I generally don't appreciate sticks or threats in general.

edit2: I'll make an actual post later. seriously tho fuck you guys.

Edited July 2, 2016 by Euklyd

[Comet]

stupid pivot f tilt killls at like 50% dumb boring character lets move on

and link's recovery is terrible

Edited July 2, 2016 by Comet

[Ken Masters]

stupid pivot f tilt killls at like 50% dumb boring character lets move on

I actually think the earlier the kill, the more hype it is (which is why I like Ganon) so 10/10 with Link there.

The character doesn't suck. Properly played is flashy. Is the average For Glory player the one who drags its name to the mud for the general public.

But, I think, we're not judging the character by their For Glory performances anyways, sooo....

http://i.imgur.com/p7DZFl3.mp4

Edited July 2, 2016 by Riptor

[General Horace]

And some of you just demotivated one of the Link mains on this forum from actually posting, thanks alot.

There will be punishment if there is that kind of negative comments towards a character and people who may play as them continues, such as getting kicked out of my tournaments. I mean there was nothing of the sort with effing Puff, the worst character in the game.

don't know if you're talking about euklyd (i'm just assuming here because I know he's a link main) but literally

actual cancer

almost as bad as mario, but unlike mario he'll never win a major

edit: in all seriousness, there's not much to say. he's pure fundamentals.

not any different than any post regarding link here

not trying to just single him out I just know he's a link main and definately isn't the only one who has "said screw this character I don't know anything". You asked for people's opinions, and they gave them, and now we're not allowed to give an opinion because we don't like the character? If said user doesn't feel like posting because other people don't like Link I don't really know what to say but threatening to boot people out of tournaments for expressing their opinon (you literally say "Opinions from other players and his mains" in your post) is pretty laughable.

Edited July 2, 2016 by General Horace

[euklyd]

my post was intended entirely facetiously and that is pretty obviously specified in the edit. and I expanded on what I actually had to say in my next post in the thread.

I appreciate that you hunted through my posts to find the one (1) post in which I actually said something similar though.

I think Jedi overreacted when I commented on the side to him about "ok not actually very interested in responding rn given the other responses in the thread" but three more or less "fuck this character and everyone who plays them" posts in a row without actual content is kind of, uh, rude

and tbf I also overreacted with my post

pedit: forgot about batter's post oops

I don't actually want to have a fight about this I'll make an actual post soon but right now I'd rather play ff12

Edited July 2, 2016 by Euklyd

[General Horace]

I didn't mean to single you out, many people (myself included, I don't intend on stopping when we reach mario or sanic or anyone else I don't enjoy fighting) have expressed discontent on several characters, I was more reffering to what Jedi was saying, because it was stupid, you can't ask for opinions then say "don't do it". I don't care who people play, I was just saying "I think link is boring to play and play against", other people might have dissed link players with their posts but it really isn't that bad aside from like comet's post.

i totally said pivot ftilt was good not entirely facetious

Edited July 2, 2016 by General Horace

[Elieson]

Solid zair approach game, and dair is fantastic since a lot of people have shitty landing games as it is. Imo skilled links are fun to watch, but i generaly like matches that last longer than melee timeframes of two combos to death. Bomb uptoss to Uthrow is a fun aas combo to do too.

I wanf him to be lower Top tier so bad

Kinda begs for a solid shorthop -proficient player and im not that great at it, so i can only fuck around with him super casually

[Shin]

Hey, a character that I actually KNOW. Considering I'm the most handsome Link main by quite some margin, I can post stuff! I like Link because he makes everyone so salty whilst at the same time being pretty not great so if I lose I can just say it's because I'm a low tier character.

[spoiler=SHOW ME YOUR MOVES]

General attributes - Link's heavy and not particulary quick. His airspeed is pretty shoddy, and he'd be way better if it were higher. His fall is pretty fast but for some strange reason his fast fall acceleration is like 90%, so he ends up with the third fastest fast fall in the game. His jumpsquat's a little slow, but it could be WORSE. His weight means he'll last a while.

[spoiler=Ground Moves]

Jab - It's not horrible tbh, it's not quite as swag as it used to be before it was fixed, but you can mix in some stuff after jab 2 to throw your opponent off. Jab 3 is a poke, you can spin attack for a KO, down tilt to catch them off guard and even go for a grab. None of these are true combos other than jab 3, but you can really get in people's heads. Jab 3 also has a hitbox at his elbow behind him!

U-tilt - His second fastest ground move in terms of start up, it's pretty nice with a good sweeping arc that goes in front and behind him. It's not going to kill for a while, but it can take a high percentage enemy by surprise. It's also pretty integral to Link's early d-throw combos. In short, this move is SWAG.

D-tilt - This is also pretty fast and is a nice poke, possibly after jab 2. It doesn't really kill but it does put them in the air. It also grounds aerial enemies but that's incredibly situational.

F-tilt - The slowest tilt but it's pretty stronk. It has a good arc and decent KO potential for a tilt. Unfortunately, it's a little slow but you can do funky stuff like pivot it to catch people off guard. I've caught approaching opponents with the tip of the sword, which doesn't deal any extra damage or knockback, but highlights its ability to punish.

U-smash - Looks just like U-tilt but three times! Since some patch, the vacuum effect actually works better so getting caught in the first hit usually means the other two will hit. Frame 10 for the first hit is pretty swag and the move in general has a lot of KO potential. The only problem is that it lasts so long so if you've missed you're generally going to get beaten up. It's also part of the d-throw combo family!

F-smash - After the patches, both hits have some crazy KO potential. It's pretty slow and really punishable on a whiff, but you can delay/cancel the second hit to mix things up. The first hit can either set up the second or send people flying based on how you've landed it, but against lighter opponents, they'll tend to fall out of the first hit. Still, you can get some crazy 90% KO's!

D-smash - Super quick and generally a nice roll punish. It's a little later killing than the other two smashes but generally it's safer. The two hits don't actually link together, they're kinda separate. Still, I really like D-smash, it makes a really nice surprise option.

Dash attack - I kinda wish we had the old one back. It's kinda like an extra smash attack, and it's really buff. The problem is that it's slow and predictable so missing really sucks. I guess it kinda functions as a roll/landing punish? I generally don't use it very much.

[spoiler=Grabulous]

Grab - Link has the CLAWSHOT, which is basically the hookshot with a CLAW. After some patch, his grab range became really crazy. However, it's really slow and a whiff can really hurt. You can pivot to surprise people but it's still really slow.

F-throw/B-throw - Both are pretty useless, they'll never KO at any reasonable percentage and don't really allow for any follow up. If you want a little space, it might work, but you have better options!

U-throw - Not this one though! This is essentially Link's kill throw, except they need to be at like 160+% in order to get them, unless you're on something like Battlefield or Dreamland. It's not Link's best kill option, but it's certainly one I've had to use when I've dealt loads of damage but couldn't quite land the final blow.

D-throw - Literally better than the other three throws put together! After some patch or another its angle changed to being almost purely vertical, which allows COMBOS. It kinda varies by the character, but you can normally get a u-tilt or two on people at low percentages, then maybe a u-smash when they're a little higher. After that you can do some clever uair, fair and nair follow ups. Mindgames are your friends here! It's pretty swag to be honest!

[spoiler=Hands off my bread!]

Nair - Sex kick! It's pretty quick and has some nice knockback. It's not as safe on shield as you'd expect, but the soft hit's good for gimping and it does KO eventually! Also part of the d-throw family. You can do some neat tricks with bombs too!

Fair - After the buffs, it kills really early and deals a lot of damage. It's nice for offstage kills and a retreating fair is pretty safe. It's safer than nair on shields but don't go nuts!

Bair - Will pretty much never kill ever, it kinda strings into itself if your opponent's a chump. One neat factor is that if you land after the first hit, you can do something like u-tilt. Not particuarly amazing, but it's still a nice touch. Generally, it's a fair safe move with a long lasting hitbox.

Uair - Kinda situational, it's a nice punish if your opponent lands like a chump and it's part of the d-throw family! It's actually pretty strong but again, you're pretty vulnerable if they airdodge through it.

Dair - Probably his funniest aerial, mostly because of the spike. It does kill eventually, and the landing lag has improved since Brawl but you don't want to be whiffing. It pogo's now, so you can catch a shielding opponent off guard. Id they're really dumb, you can get two hits off and then a uair if they're low. It also doesn't trade as well as one would imagine, it loses regularly to both Rosa's and Cloud's uair.

Zair - It's really long now, but it's more of a prod than anything else. It's not fantastically safe on an approach but a retreating zair can stop people from getting up in your grizzle. You can tether ledges which is sometimes useful maybe!

[spoiler=Super Special Surprise!]

Neutral B - Probably his worst projectile, since it won't go very far unless it's charged and it's pretty avoidable if you're just sitting there charged. It might function as a safe gimp, but it's not terribly reliable. Short hop arrows are a little more useful but it's still rather limited.

Side B - I would sell my soul for a real hitbox instead of the windbox. You can generally keep people on their toes by tossing these out, however, a few characters are actually fast enough to close the gap before you toss it out. The windbox itself is a blessing and a curse, since sometimes you'll end up blowing them into a more favourable position for them. Still, you can set up strings with it and gimping Little Mac with the windbox is hilarious. Generally, you don't want to catch your rang so it's best to be doing something when it comes back.

Up B - Grounded? It's essentially another smash, it'll kill pretty well. The problem is if it's shielded you're screwed, since it's a single hit rather than Toon Link's spin. The back hitbox is a fair bit weaker than the front, but it's not hard to B-reversal it. In the air? It's a subpar recovery, it's not awful but it's pretty easy to gimp. Bombs will help extend it, but Link's not exactly the king of recovery. The hits link fairly OK, so you can sometimes catch an enemy by surprise by not snapping onto the ledge.

Down B - Literally the best part of Link's toolkit. There are so many things you can do with them that there would need to be a whole article just to describe them. However, the big one is bombslides (in short, item throw hijinks that let Link approach better) and the fact that you can zone control with them really well and set up some swag combos. There's also other swag stuff like soft-throwing (making a bomb land on the stage without exploding), Z-dropping (using the grab button to drop the bomb below Link) and recatches. In short, bombs are swag.

Link's not bad, he has a lot of technical stuff at his disposal and a lot of his moves are generally good. However, he suffers from poor mobility and generally gets shut down by anyone who can combo him. His recovery struggles but I think if his airspeed were better he'd be great. He probably deserves his spot towards the top of low or the bottom of middle.

Someone like Knife, Zerker or Euk could probably add to this, but I figure people would LOVE to hear from me.

[Jedi]

not trying to just single him out I just know he's a link main and definately isn't the only one who has "said screw this character I don't know anything". You asked for people's opinions, and they gave them, and now we're not allowed to give an opinion because we don't like the character? If said user doesn't feel like posting because other people don't like Link I don't really know what to say but threatening to boot people out of tournaments for expressing their opinon (you literally say "Opinions from other players and his mains" in your post) is pretty laughable.

Sorry, I overreacted, didn't mean to lose it like that.

[shadowofchaos]

I think most people have better experience than I do... but I do happen to notice that utilization of Link's projectiles leads to A LOT of annoying roll spam. Sometimes players use that as their only movement option haha.

[Shin]

I think most people have better experience than I do... but I do happen to notice that utilization of Link's projectiles leads to A LOT of annoying roll spam. Sometimes players use that as their only movement option haha.

The general quality of For Glory Link is pretty amazing. Rolls, dashes, dairs and arrows are the main staple of their diet.

[Elieson]

Dont forget lame palette choices!

[euklyd]

General attributes - Link's heavy and not particulary quick. His airspeed is pretty shoddy, and he'd be way better if it were higher. His fall is pretty fast but for some strange reason his fast fall acceleration is like 90%, so he ends up with the third fastest fast fall in the game. His jumpsquat's a little slow, but it could be WORSE. His weight means he'll last a while.

his jumpsquat, at seven frames, is the worst in the game besides bowser's (tied with robin, ike, ganon, zard, and mii sword). this is a really big issue because it means basically everyone beats him out of a jump, he can't follow up on combos nearly as well as other characters, and he can't use any aerials as out of shield options effectively at all, among other things.

also to add onto this, link has both terrible max airspeed and air acceleration - toon link has mediocre max airspeed, but amazing acceleration, which is a big reason he's so much better. also his fallspeed without fastfall is middle of the pack (like 25th)

I'll just go over things I can add stuff to since shin made an effortpost already

[spoiler=SHOW ME *your* MOVES][spoiler=grounded normals]jab - pretty bad tbh (frame 7 is ugh). the best thing about it is that you can mix up the timing for mindgames (delay the jab2 followup and potentially get a grab, smash, or spinattack), or if they're shielding and you delay jab3, you can get jab3 when they drop shield to punish. you can also slightly delay jab3 and catch them if they try to doublejump out but that's a harder read / execution thing

ftilt - slow as fuck. that being said it's amazing for some stuff. dash away -> pivot ftilt is amazing for catching approaches or landings or ledge options, and if you mix it up with pivot grab it'll mean your opponent can't even shield safely since both have great range. this move is STRONG (it's a kill move, especially when catching ledge getups) and is safe-ish on shield when spaced correctly, in many scenarios. as a bonus, link also leans back for much of ftilt, so it's even harder to hit him. that being said, it's slow as fuck (frame 15), so.

utilt - amazing. relatively fast (frame 8), great disjoint, sweeps over a huge arc over link's head (good for catching landings and even ok for rolls), and combos into itself / usmash / sometimes aerials, as well as sets up for juggles at mid-high %s. at actually high %s, it kills. can be combo'd into from dthrow and stuff.

dtilt - ok. it does pretty good damage, and combos into fair at low%s and uair / aerial upb at mid-high %s (even at kill%). it's kinda committal though, and not very fast (frame 11), so it's not exactly safe. note: has a sweetspot that's a weak spike, which is a really goofy way to kill someone.

[spoiler=smashes]fsmash - ok I guess. if you use it, make sure not to initiate the second hit unless you've either (a) already hitconfirmed it, either by landing the first one, or by forcing them to airdodge into the ground or (b) you know it'll break their shield. if you delay it, you can catch your opponent offguard when they drop their shield to punish, or you can just buy yourself time to retreat. can be combo'd into from zair (!)

usmash - amazing. one of the best usmashes in the game imo. fast (like frame 9), hits over a huge area (like utilt, but more vertical range and less horizontal), decent kill power, and its multiple hits catch airdodges and spotdodges. super good for catching landings. be wary of using it under platforms, though, since foes can often land on the platform after a hit or two, and manage to put up their shield. can be combo'd into from dthrow or utilt.

dsmash - ok for catching rolls or recoveries that fail to snap to the ledge (with dsmash2, which has a horizontal knockback trajectory)

[spoiler=aerials]super good tbh.

nair - a decently fast (frame 7) sex kick (lingering hitbox with a sweetspot in the first frame or two). lasts for like ever, sets up for edgeguards and stuff, or horizontal followups on landing. good for edgeguarding recoveries with bad/nonexistent hitboxes. solid all around. only ten frames of landing lag, which is a very top-tier number.

fair - super good. while it's slow (frame 14, same as tink's) it does 11+13 damage if you land both hits, so it's amazing at racking up damage at low%s, or chewing through shields, which sets up for shieldpokes (for example, sh -> fair vs an opponent sitting on a battlefield platform means you can often utilt from below and poke through their shield). it's crucial in matchups like rosalina, where the foe is tall/fat and so you can have easy shieldpokes. also sets up for shieldbreaks if your opponent isn't paying attention, but the threat of a shieldbreak is often enough.

at low %s fair2 can combo into jab or grab or similar options.

kills at very decent %s (same as toon link's, for fair1), and can be combo'd off of a bomb or, sometimes, a boomerang.

12 frames of landing lag, which is pretty good. also it's safe on shield if you space it (both fair1 and fair2)

bair - link's fastest aerial (frame 6). 2 pretty fast hits, so goes though stuff like focus attack, and landing with bair1 only can true combo into turnaround utilt or grounded upb. rising bair also combos into itself and/or aerial spin attack, which can kill.

uair - super good. slow-ish (frame 11), but lasts longer than an airdodge and has great disjoint, which makes it super hard to challenge a link that's attempting to juggle you. fullhop uair autocancels, which is very nice. also you can combo this out of dthrow even at kill%s on some characters, so that's important. can also kill confirm off of bombs, and utilt can set up into it.

dair - meh. if you dair offstage you're likely to die. lingering hitbox and decently strong though, so it has its uses. technically bomb can confirm into it but it's rare.

that being said if you initiate it from high enough up (higher than you can jump) it will autocancel, so that's an OKAY landing option vs characters with bad air mobility / juggle options.

zair - it's ok. I don't use it as much as I should, but it's good for spacing and can confirm into things like jab/smashes/maybe grab.

[spoiler=grab and throws]grab - frame 12 and doesn't last as long as like zss's and pacman's. that being said it's still pretty good for a tether grab, since it's pretty fast (for a tether) and has really good range, and isn't as laggy as samus's / etc.

fthrow / bthrow - only good for positional advantage / getting the foe offstage.

dthrow - combo throw. at low%s, combos into utilt / usmash vs most of the cast. at mid %s, usmash / nair / bair. at higher %s, uair / aerial spin attack, often at kill%s. you need to follow DI though, which with link's airspeed is kinda hard.

uthrow - kill throw eventually (~150%)

[spoiler=specials]arrows - suck. have niche uses but on the whole they're bad. don't ever charge an arrow especially. niche uses being things like occasional projectile pressure or forcing airdodges offstage, or jab locking at around 80% (especially goofy thing: weak landing nair at around 70-90% confirms into an arrow lock if your opponent misses the tech, and that can be followed up with like dash attack or fair for a kill).

boomerang - slow and bad. use for projectile pressure sometimes I guess. can combo into aerials but it's hard. no returning hitbox means it's pretty bad for zoning, and while windboxes can be annoying they're hard to plan for vs competent opponents (as opposed to tink's boomerang, which forces shields or evasive action because of its hitbox the entire way through). entirely useless in certain matchups. and did I mention it's slow and laggy?

spin attack - pretty good. decent recovery (at least compared to past games!) and kills pretty well. in the air you can combo into it from projectiles or bair or just read a recovery, and if you're holding a bomb you can save yourself.

recovery is OKAY through the combination of this + bombjumps + tether.

also it can kill if you get the early front-facing hitbox on the ground, which is an out of shield option (frame 8). super unsafe, though.

tether - not a b move but it's a recovery thing so I'm putting it here. while I hate it because tethers glitch all the fuckin time, it's a really good way to recover. also, if you're holding a bomb, you can airdodge -> press A to tether without dropping your bomb.

bombs - link's best move tbh. enable traps (throwing them up, z-drops, soft throws as land mines, etc.), movement options with bombslides, safe pressure, etc, as well as assisting recovery. Also, they combo into your kill moves.

EDIT: I forgot dash attack. it sucks unless you like, jab reset with an arrow.

how to play link: some people (like, say, izaw, but even more than izaw, the people who blindly worship him - izaw at least knows what he's talking about on the whole) say "oh when link's played PROPERLY (i.e., aggro) he's not bad all those haters are dumb." I respectfully disagree. link simply does not have the tools to be successful playing 100% aggro. his tools are tailored for camping/zoning and then seizing an advantage, and keeping your opponent respectful of your considerable raw power.

play safe, camp, throw stuff, and take stage control so you can punish landings and get grabs or projectile confirms. edgeguard when applicable. DO NOT GET OVERCONFIDENT: link has a terrible disadvantage state and if you overextend, offstage or onstage, you are likely to die. don't fish for stuff too much unless it's bomb confirms because your other kill options are laggy and unsafe (especially grab). retreating ftilts / fairs are really good to punish an opponent eager to secure a kill.

link has an okay neutral (he has tools, but they have definite weaknesses; still decent) and advantage state. his disadvantage state (getting combo'd / edgeguarded) is abysmal. link is bad because of this.

for people doing research: the best links are scizor (socal) and cat (netherlands). izaw is good for tech but has worse fundamentals. his videos are still fun though. there exists a discord / skype chat. smashboards has good resources. link's best palettes are anything but FD link / dark link.

Edited July 3, 2016 by Euklyd

[Jedi]

If only his general speed stuff was buffed, it'd probably give him more options.

[euklyd]

Link with Tink's airspeed would be super amazing tyvm

ALSO LINK TECH STUFF

Link has some PRETTY SICK bomb techs that people just don't seem to know much about

a) soft/lazy bomb throws - Link's bombs, unlike Tink's, have very forgiving fuses. If you z-drop a bomb from a short-hop, for example, it will lie peacefully on the ground without exploding. Similarly, if you set your c-stick to attack (tilts), hold your control stick to the left, and throw a bomb you're holding in the opposite direction with the c-stick, it will fly a short distance and then rest on the ground without exploding. This can be nice for laying land mines, or for putting a bomb out that you can later pick up and throw down the line for more pressure.
b) instant z-drops - generally, if Link z-drops a bomb, his tether comes out. This is an issue because this takes forever. However, in certain scenarios, you can z-drop without zairing. The most common of these is immediately after you execute an aerial. Now, you may ask, "how can you do an aerial with a bomb in hand? This is Link, not Peach!" Well the answer is simple: you use the aerial to pick up the bomb after dropping it on the ground! [ Example ] (This example is z-drop -> sh bair -> instant z-drop -> sh bair -> instant z-drop -> etc., and z-drop -> fh bair -> instant z-drop -> dj bair -> upb)
c) ledgedrop bombs - when jumping from the ledge with bomb in hand, press Z immediately and you'll cleanly drop the bomb without zair coming out. This will also fuck up the recovery of anyone trying to recover from offstage after you, for example if they had attempted a gimp.
d) BOMBSLIDES BABY. These are a crucial burst movement tech for Link and help him a lot with mobility shit. They make following up on bomb confirms a million times easier, as well as pressuring shields and stuff. Their execution is too complicated to get into here so watch the video if you're interested.

And that's enough tech for now.

Also also if people have questions about either playing Link or counterplay against Link they should like, ask them here imo

Edited July 3, 2016 by Euklyd

[Falaflame]

Am I literally the only person on this planet that actually doesn't mind Link?

I play Link myself just for giggles, but I don't really play him on a serious level. I do know that him having a tether is nice, and bombs do add to his recovery options not to mention bombs adding to mobility and combos is also kind of nice in general. his dash attack may very well be one of the strongest dash attacks in the entire game AND has enormous shield pressure. If you don't powershield that you're kind of SOL.

My problem with Link, and the reason why I fail to commit to him, is his poor mobility in general. Sure Bombs may help a little bit, but I can't expect myself to have a bomb on me at all times. (Plus this means I'll be damaging myself and putting myself at Kill% sooner than I want to) Also a lot of his stronger moves having massive endlag doesn't help his case in the slightest. But he's fairly solid in this iteration, and has far deviated from the previous 3 smash games where he's pretty much a guaranteed low/bottom tier.