Hello, everyone! I just quickly wanted to announce that
I’ll be doing a Let’s Play on Link’s Awakening and Cadence of Hyrule
as soon as they’re released
on my Let’s Play channel, so make sure you’re Subscribed to that channel
if you’re interested. Link is in the description below and
in the comments. Enjoy the video! Link is a character of confidence and creativity. He’s relatively fast, strong, and lives long. Once he’s fearless and determined,
he’ll oppress you at all ranges
and every angle. He’s able to aggressively use
his projectiles, sword, and kicks to suffocate the opponent
and force out shields or jumps and create openings to anti-air opponents
as much as possible or use them defensively to hold the lead
while dealing damage from a distance, baiting the opponent into playing
overaggressively. It’s all a game of manipulating
the opponent’s neutral, especially with the Remote Bomb,
being a constant projectile that Link can play with and detonate
at any time
to keep the opponent guessing. The Remote Bomb will be excluded from
this video completely, however, as without it,
Link is very simple. The Bomb will have its own series instead. His biggest weakness is dealing with
close-range pressure that’s extremely fast,
which can easily overwhelm him. He gets combo’d pretty easily due to
his weight and size, and getting around ledge traps can be rough
because of his lack of options. Once he gets YOU offstage, however,
he’ll be ruthless in his own ledge trapping
and especially edgeguarding. Link’s neutral revolves heavily on
his mix-up pressure
with neutral air and Boomerang. Every other move is there to compliment
these two core tools and to manipulate the opponent’s
decision making. Both his neutral and advantage state
are heavily reliant on the distance and direction the opponent
gets launched, as he has the tools to cover any
distance and direction, only it needs to be very precise
and calculated. Link’s fast fall ability is really important and
is one of his strongest attributes. He has a medium, regular fall speed. However, he is the only character that can
increase his fall speed by 90%, which basically allows him to be
a fast faller on command. Most other characters increase their fall speed
by 60% when fastfalling. This not only helps him mix up his speed
in neutral, but it also allows him to land very well from disadvantage,
especially since he can double jump, fastfall, and neutral air dodge faster than
anyone else, excluding Fox. Neutral air has an initial sweet spot and a long-lasting sour spot, both of which can be used in 3 main ways
against shield: it can be spaced, unspaced,
or crossed up,
all of which have their pros and cons. Starting with the sour spot. If it’s unspaced to a point where
they can shield grab you, you’ll only have one single option
against fast grabs, which is spotdodge. Nothing else works. This, of course,
could potentially be used as a bait but will still leave you limited
in terms of options. This also means that
you can land with neutral air and shield
to bait out up smashes, up specials, and aerials out of shield
to punish them. If you space it,
you allow yourself to do anything, from aggressive grounded options to follow-up aerials, to a simple full hop, to rolls,
and anything else you can think of. And, if you cross it up,
you’ll allow yourself to either
shield and punish, up tilt to catch them short hopping
or releasing shield, back air, full hop, or jump-away Boomerang. As for pressuring with the sweet spot,
it’ll give you the same amount of options when it’s spaced or crossed up,
only it adds a bit more shieldstun, making up tilt more viable at catching
full hops out of shield, and you’ll even be able to do
another short hop buffered neutral air to either punish an Arrow out of shield
or catch a roll in. However, if you hit the sweet spot
without spacing it, it’ll give you many more options
than the sour spot, as not only can you
spotdodge and shield now but you can also full hop to avoid grabs and
come down with more pressure, use Spin Attack to deny grabs
or trade with fast aerials out of shield, or land a neutral air
into short hop neutral air
to punish grabs or short hops. And, to punish full hops,
you’ll need to full hop with neutral air. The real reason this move is so good is because
you can full hop neutral air to
directly cover full hops and then fastfall to not only stuff out
opponents jumping out of shield but also pressure the shield
at the same time. Basically, it does three things
at the same time. The only problem is that it loses to parries. However, you can now mix it up by
fastfalling into a grab or not fastfalling at all
and instead double jumping into
another neutral air or Boomerang. Or, you can do a full hop neutral air into
another neutral air before landing for the sweet spot to hit the shield instead. A potential solution to beating
Link’s full hop neutral air is to either whiff punish as he lands
with a burst option, which is very precise and hard to do, or full hop yourself before he does
to stop him from jumping— which, of course, is
a commitment and risk in itself as he might anti-air you
with up tilt or anything else,
depending on distance. Link’s also able to full hop double jump
and punish the opponent’s full hop, since now he’ll come down from above
with a lingering hitbox. Another solution is to throw out a
quick up smash or up special
before the neutral air hits the shield. The other thing is that neutral air
has a very easy time shield poking. Even blocking one single grounded move,
neutral air, or projectile is enough for
neutral air to start shield poking. They could, of course, shield upwards,
but it’ll still be safe against shield. If the sour spot connects at starting percents,
it’ll combo into grab, up tilt, Spin Attack, or jab. At roughly 30–60%,
it’ll combo into dash grab or down tilt,
which can combo into neutral air or Spin Attack, which is risky since
it’s a very tight and frame-perfect combo. It also won’t work if the opponent
DI’s the down tilt away. Connect it above that percentage,
and it’ll start launching the opponent
for a tech situation. Here, you can either jump in with Boomerang
to punish a missed tech, tech in place, and tech away,
as well as Link can take care of tech in by himself. You can also dash in to Spin Attack
to punish no tech, tech in place, or tech away… …or any other smash attack
to cover tech in. Connecting the sweet spot at 0%
leads into grab, jab, Spin Attack, down tilt, and back air. If they’re at low percent,
it’ll only combo into dash grab. Starting around 30–40%,
it’ll start forcing a tech situation. Where it gets complicated is when you start
including the Bomb. On top of all this, neutral air can be a
pretty good option out of shield as you can move back while doing it and is one of the best edgeguarding tools
because of how long it lasts
and all the things it can lead into. There are many reasons to why
the Boomerang is so good. First off, you always want to be
moving or jumping
as you throw the Boomerang, and it can be B-reversed for mix-ups. You can do a soft throw and hard throw,
depending on whether you
tilt or smash the input. It can be adjusted upwards to cover
full hops or downwards to cover short hops. It’s safe against shield at close range,
allowing you to shield right after for safety, and if they grab you,
you can Spin Attack to punish. The only thing is that you have to
spotdodge or roll against long-ranged grabs… …or jump above tether grabs. This is still risky,
as it can get parried and punished. Throwing it at mid-range is all about
conditioning. If they jump in after the block,
you’ll be able to full hop anti-air, and if they keep shielding,
your neutral air will shield poke. The only real thing to adjust to are rolls. It still comes out fairly slow, however,
so throwing it a close range is very risky, as well as projectiles can be attacked through
very easily. Only the close-range Boomerang will combo. DI away can only be punished with Spin Attack… …until they are at too high percentage.
Then nothing will combo. Even if you throw it and miss it,
it’ll come back and serve as really good pressure, as if it connects, it’ll lead into anything. Or, neutral air will combo into the Boomerang,
only to lead into another neutral air. Or, they’ll be shielding as it’s coming back,
giving you an opportunity to grab or pressure them with other tools. The returning Boomerang has a hitbox
with set knockback, which allows for consistent combos
at all percents. It can also break combos
or condition jumps that can be anti-aired. And finally,
it’s amazing at keeping the opponent onstage
if they’re trying to go offstage for an edgeguard. The longer you charge the Bow,
the more speed, damage, and knockback
it will achieve. You can turnaround-special, B-reverse,
and wavebounce, which are
all essential for mixing up your landing. Uncharged Arrows can be used during a full hop
to harass an opponent from a distance or stuff out full hops from a distance. You can also shoot them on the ground
and pick them up, in which case you can either
charge the Bow to shoot two Arrows or play around with the Arrow
by throwing it or Z-dropping it. Once you’ve
launched the opponent horizontally, you can full hop offstage
while you shoot an Arrow or two to try covering their attempt on
recovering high. If it hits their double jump,
you’ll be able to combo into an aerial, and if they don’t do anything
or try air dodging,
you’ll still be able to potentially edgeguard. They can be used to aid your
comeback to stage. By shooting an Arrow at the ledge
before recovering, you could catch it and throw it
as an additional ledge option. Fully charged Arrows are amazing
and will always force opponents
into close-quarter combat, as they cover the entire stage,
are unreactable,
and deal really good damage or shield damage. They can be used to cover landings
as soon as the opponent escapes
with a double jump. And, of course,
they can be extremely good offstage, as even air dodging them from
a long distance leads into a low edgeguard with down air,
neutral air, or Remote Bomb. The Hylian Shield blocks almost any projectile and will work whenever Link stands,
crouches, or walks. He can dash and
immediately tap C-Stick down or up
and release it super quick. Do it quick enough, and Link will dash
then start walking at max speed. This can also be done if you
double tap yourself forward. In fact, this works with all characters! Blocking with the Hylian Shield is way more
beneficial the shielding or parrying, as it’ll allow you to move sooner
after blocking. You can still aim a projectile
to play around the Hylian Shield. Jab is only meant for punishing opponents
releasing shield against shield pressure. Keep in mind, though, that the jab will
NOT cover jumps out of shield, as well as it’s very punishable
against shield. The only time to mix up how many jabs you do
or at what speed you do it is if you accidentally started hitting a shield. Even then, however, it’s punishable. His down tilt is safe against shield
at max range and can be good for attempting
a shield poke once the opponent starts holding up
against your falling neutral air. DI’ing it in lets link connect it
into an up air. Up tilt is useful, especially since
it starts from behind, thus making it an amazing tool for Link to
quickly cover his back or when they try to jumping above
and past him. Except for this, it’s amazing at
juggling and covering landings
if you dash cancel it. It’s unsafe against shield, though,
so it should be used cautiously. His forward tilt hits really hard
and can be a decent mix-up
after forward air or neutral air spacing, as it mixes up the timing of
your aggression, It can really damage a shield while
it’s safe at max range, and will start forcing rolls and jumps. It’s good against ledge jumps and can hit
a few characters’ ledge stalls. It also hits slightly behind Link,
making it really good at calling out ledge rolls
against taller opponents. Except for this, it can also be strong against
double jumps back into the stage. Dash Attack is at its strongest at
the tip of the blade and is mostly used to punish opponents
drifting away from you
to try landing in an obvious spot. It can also be used as a hard commitment
against ledge jumps. It’s unsafe against shield, though,
so it should be used cautiously. His up smash is strong and is mainly used
to punish opponents double jumping back in right above you
after they’ve been launched offstage or to just generally catch obvious landings. It also catches rolls behind you
or ledge rolls really well. Down smash is the only reliable option
Link has against ledge stalls and can be used as a DI mix-up
during a tech chase. It’s also decent for catching
rolls behind you. Forward smash is mostly used for
punishing laggy moves and hard reads. The first swing has a tipper,
which immediately launches the opponent and is fairly safe against shield. And, if you connect with the middle of the blade,
it’ll combo into the second hit, which kills earlier than if you hit with
the tip of the first swing. It’ll launch a beam if Link is at 0%— which can be charged up as well— and interacts really well with Boomerang
and Bomb pressure. Forward air is also great in the neutral
to wall out an opponent and call out their short hop or full hop… …and even ledge jumps because of
its disjoint and power. It’s just slower than neutral air. If you short hop and time the forward air, it’ll be safe against shield if you end up
swinging the second hit low on shield
and space it. If you do it towards the opponent,
you’ll cross up and can use up tilt or up smash
as additional pressure or as an anti-air if you sense them
jumping just a bit too late. This can be used as a ledge option
to pass through opponents holding shield. Or, mix it up and space them out instead. You can also full hop forward air
to hit full hops and fastfall it so the second swing
spaces out grounded opponents. Hitting it at starting percents allows you
to combo into grab, neutral air, or back air. Spacing with the first hit or hitting the
first hit only is generally bad, too. Back air is your fastest aerial
and can be buffered out of shield
to anti-air right behind you. Or, run in and reverse it to anti-air short hops
and even whiff punish. Against tall opponents,
it has a very high chance of shield poking,
even if they have full shield. This is another reason to why you need to
hold up as you shield against Link. Its second use is landing with only
the first hit of back air, which is a really good mix-up once they want
to start parrying your neutral air. And, it’ll always lead into up tilt, up smash, back air, or reverse Spin Attack.
It’s only safe if you space the move, in which case you should be careful
doing a follow-up back air
as it’ll still lose to an aerial out of shield, and so it’s usually better to shield after. Up air has really long range and will basically
beat out all attacks. This means that it’s mostly used during
a short hop fast fall or full hop fast fall to either hit the opponent that’s
straight above you or force out an air dodge or double jump
that you can chase down. It’s also very good for punishing
high double jumps back into stage. Link’s down air can be used as an unexpected
mix-up with neutral air pressure. It’ll bounce on hit and shield if
not fastfallen— which isn’t safe on shield,
since the opponent can quickly punish you
before the second bounce. However, if you hit it,
it can provide some really nice combos. It’s also a really good landing option
while covering yourself from below, as it can either be done slowly or fastfallen,
while being able to space it, as well. If you fastfall it, Link won’t bounce and
will hit the ground immediately. This isn’t safe either,
so you shouldn’t try using it too often. At low percents,
it’ll combo into a grab, neutral air, back air, or Spin Attack. It’s an amazing edgeguarding tool
against low recoveries, as hitting with the late hit can connect
into more aerials. Connecting with the very first frames
of the move will cause a spike. Spin Attack is
a very powerful and long-ranged
out-of-shield option to punish aggression,
especially if they misspace or if they land
with a very well-spaced aerial
into a follow-up grounded move. Be careful, though,
as if they use a very safe aerial against shield
and shield right after, you’ll get punished for using Spin Attack. It’s also his main out-of-shield option
against cross-ups if you reverse it. It’s very risky but very powerful
against regular get-ups and get-up attacks and will catch rolls, as well. And, if reversed,
it will punish the roll even better. It’s also your best option after a parry, or you can use it as a quick punish
out of a dash. This is actually Link’s only burst option
in front, which is strong, long-ranged, and fast
but really risky. In fact,
this is one of Link’s smaller weaknesses in that he doesn’t have
a quick and reliable burst option
like some other characters. As for recovery,
it’s decent and has huge range. You can use the Spin Attack offstage
as an additional edgeguarding tool, especially when holding down before
getting the ledge, and reversing it
can let you launch them offstage
if they aren’t shielding. It’s easily countered, of course,
but might not be enough if Link has
saved his double jump, and even then he can Bomb recover
and make it back from almost anywhere— unless the Bomb is already onstage
or caught by the opponent. It’s also amazing at covering all options
on smaller platforms, as well as if you ledge trump someone,
it’ll also lead into an aerial Spin Attack. Link has one of the fastest grabs in the game,
as well as very little lag if it’s missed. Down throw is your main combo throw. Generally, from 0–20%,
depending on matchup, you’ll mostly want to either go for
up tilts or an aerial. If they don’t DI at all,
it’s at its easiest for you to combo. If they DI towards you,
you’ll get up tilt or back air. And, if they DI away,
you’ll either have to reverse up tilt, which is hard to do because
you have to be frame-perfect with
the turnaround timing, or neutral air, which is not only easier but can take away the opponent’s double jump
if they tried buffering a jump away. Above 20 till ~50%,
you’ll be able to get full hop neutral air
if they DI away. This also needs to be inputted
frame perfectly. What this means is that you
basically have to down throw and hold jump
so you buffer a full hop forward, and then time the Control Stick release
and the A Button perfectly so Link starts kicking 1–3 frames
after he jumps. Or, you go for Spin Attack, which is
a bit easier to get
but riskier to try doing. If they DI in,
you’ll get full hop back air
if it’s executed perfectly or just short hop up air,
which is easier or Spin Attack,
which is riskier. Above that percentage,
everything becomes inconsistent, mostly because of
the demanding execution or rage. If you are off execution by even a little bit,
they’ll get to
air dodge or double jump away, which you can, of course,
still try punishing. Some of these combos
might not work at all against
certain matchups or percents, anyway, while some characters
will be able to double jump
but still get beaten by the follow-up. And so,
forward throw and back throw
are your main throws at higher percents, since the angle is perfect
for edgeguarading, especially since
if they DI away the forward throw,
it leads into a Bomb setup as well as you can shoot Arrows
or just go offstage with Z-drop nairs
and reverse Spin Attacks. If they DI in the throw and
go for a higher recovery, you can stuff it out with your aerials first
and then set up for an edgeguard. Back throwing can allow you to
throw a Boomerang as well
because of the angle. In fact, even neutral air or anything else
that launches people for an edgeguard
is extremely good for Link. It’s where he is at his best
and is the most important part of
any matchup to figure out: edgeguarding as well as ledge trapping
with the Bomb. These two topics will be talked about
much more in the Bomb Tech videos
that will be made. Otherwise, down throw will set up
for a tech situation onto platforms, and up throw can also set up
into tech situations, or it’s used for killing at really high percents. Remember that learning Link comes first, as once you learn how to use him,
the Bomb starts making much more sense
in how and when to use them. Thank you guys for watching! These videos take a lot of hard work
and time to do, so if you want to support this series,
I’d be very grateful if you’d make it worth it for me
by supporting me on my Patreon. And, for the Patreons I already have,
thank you guys for all the support! Also, don’t forget to Subscribe to my
other Let’s Play channel, where I’ll be playing Link’s Awakening
and Cadence of Hyrule.
Izaw somehow makes all his Smash videos really relaxing to watch.
I relaxingly learn how to beat the sh!t out of online players.. I love it! xD
Izaw seems like a dope dude. Seems really nice and his videos have definitely taught me stuff, but I personally feel like FrenchTutor is def a better Link than him.
EDIT: Just finished watching. Informative video, still a lot of good info in it. GJ Izaw.