Link

Link is a playable character in Super Smash Bros Crusade, being in playable in one of the earliest demos in the games development. Link has a few notable changes, like having a new Side Special, Hidden Skills and a brand new bair.

Link ranked 33rd on the official tier list of 0.7, a considerable drop from his position at 13th on the (unofficial) tier list of 0.6. He had good kill power, a great spacing game and has fantastic vertical survivability. However, he also had poor mobility, below average attack speed and quite high landing lag on a number of his aerials, making his otherwise great close range game difficult to handle. He had terrible recovery and was incredibly easy to edgeguard. His large size and high gravity made him easy to combo and chaingrab, and the loss of his Boomerang dealt a heavy blow to his spacing game. This lead to terrible matchups against the majority of the cast, with his only real good ones being against characters with terrible range, such as Toad and Pikachu.

0.8, however, has seen a number of considerable buffs that has lead to his new position at [to be added] on the tier list. His mobility was vastly improved, and he has great horizontal speed both on the ground and in the air. The addition of l-cancelling meant that his air game was much faster, and his approach was improved greatly by the advent of the aerial boomerang and a buffed z-air. Finally, he received a new technique in jab cancelling, which was a huge benefit to him as his jab is very long ranged and easy to hit with.

General
Link is the main protagonist of the famous The Legend of Zelda series. Link holds the Triforce of Courage and with Zelda and Ganon, he completes the Triforce. He lives in the fantasy land Hyrule, and holds the Master Sword, the mighty Blade of Evil's Bane.

Attributes
Link has great kill power, improved recovery, air game and a different Grounded Side B (equiped with very powerful kill moves, and boomerang is still usable in the air and doesn't cancel then landing). The Crusade physics suit Link very well, Larger ledge sweetspot helps Link's recovery and Zair significantly, ability to dashdance due to Crusade's low traction and slightly improved hitstun help him to combo.

Link is one of the most balanced characters in the game. He has many long ranged and powerful melee moves, as he uses his sword. Additionally he can pressure his foe from a distance using his bombs, arrows, boomerangs and long ranged grab using the Clawshot. His Hidden Skills move is his quickest move by far, can reflect projectiles and leads to a lot of mix-up possibilities, and with Boomerang still usable, his spacing ability is still great. He can combo really well. However, his throws are weak and his recovery is average when compared to other characters. He is one of the few characters that have a Z-air (tether recovery).

Link's tilts are fast and powerful, and his down tilt is particularly good for getting opponents into the air. It can also meteor smash at the tip of the sword or hitting behind Link. His up tilt is fast and good for juggling, and his forward tilt can easily KO at high percentages. Link's forward smash can become a two hit combo at low percentages, it is also a great KO move, depending from where the sword connects. His down smash is an easy KO move at fairly high percentages, and is Link's quickest smash. However, it is predictable making it easy to watch out at higher percentages, and has some ending lag. Link's up smash doesn't KO easily, but it racks up decent damage. Link's aerial attacks are also good, as both his neutral aerial and grab aerial (zair), combined with a short hop and fast falling, is a great option for approach. Link's back aerial is good for spacing when needed. Link's forward aerial is fairly fast, is a good set-up move and its second hit is powerful, but this KOing move is hard to land, since the first hit only set ups the second hit at very low percentages and the first hit lacks KO power. Link's up and down aerials are some of his best KO moves, having high duration and high knockback, but have high ending and landing lag, however, L-canceling fixes this problem. His aerial attacks are effective, his fast aerial speed, fast falling speed, and decent jumps give Link a decent aerial game. His grab, like all tether grabs, has good range but has some start-up and is laggy if missed. Specials for Link are also good for keeping distance, racking up damage, and great for survival. On the ground, Link can charge his up special. It is a good edge guarding tool, but is predictable. Spin attack can also deflect projectiles if used in the air. His neutral special is a bow that charges and shoots high-speed projectiles. If activated in the air, just before hitting the ground, an uncharged arrow will shoot instantly, making it a fast attack that will often hit unsuspecting enemies. Link's down special allows him to pull out a bomb and throw it, which can be used for mind games, but his own bombs can be used against him (though this can work for Bomb Recovery in some situations). Link's running speed very fast, being as as fast as Meta Knight and Krystal, and his air speed is also very fast, tying with Jigglypuff for highest air speed in the game.

Link's critical problem is his vulnerability to combos, especially with the addition of L-Canceling, although L-Canceling is also greatly in Link's favor in various cases. Link's combo ability is average, although it is surpassed by many characters in the game, notably Captain Falcon and Fox.

Pros:.

 * Great range in many of his attacks.


 * Great kill power.


 * Has many strong multihitting moves, allowing easy damage rack-ups.


 * Great camping game.


 * Has a reflector.


 * Heavyweight.


 * Amazing ground game.


 * Almost entire moveset can kill.


 * Strong combo game because of the Z-air.


 * Above Average recovery for a heavyweight


 * Has one of the best edge-guarding tools in the game


 * Actually has a way of escaping combos


 * Very good spacing game, improved even more due to his buffed speed


 * Has an easier time approaching due to addition of L-Canceling

Cons:

 * Recovery can be easily edge-guarded.


 * Heavily relies on Bomb Recovery for vertical height, which can easily be disrupted or can backfire.


 * Slow attack speed.


 * Bombs require straight preciscion to use effectively.


 * Slow mobility.


 * Fast falling speed plus his relatively large hurtbox make him one of the easiest characters to combo


 * Air game is below average


 * Has a poor grab game

Link's Normal Moves
Jab
 * Swings his sword 2 times and does a forward stab. - 3%,3%,4%. The last hit, the stab, has good range.

Forward Tilt
 * Swings sword from head to toe. 12%

Up Tilt
 * Swings his sword over him in an arc with good range. 10-9%.

Down Tilt
 * Swings sword across ground. This attack has Link's only spike, which will hit only if the tip of Link's sword hits. 12%.

N-air
 * Sex Kick.- Does a side kick in air. 8-5%

F-air
 * Swing his sword twice while spinning 360 degrees for up to two hits and 21% damage.

B-air
 * Swings his sword behind him. 11% damage.

U-air
 * Thrusts his sword upwards like in Zelda II. Can Star K.O. on high percentage. 13-10% damage.

D-air
 * Thrusts his sword downward like in Zelda II. This is one of the most powerful moves in the game, but unlike in 64 and Melee, you can't cancel it upon landing. Link can bounce on enemies multiple times using this move. 20-17% with first hit, damage decreases afterward.

Side Smash
 * Swings his sword forward then, if attack button pressed again, does a another swing, but with more force. 15% on first hit, 18% on second hit.

Up Smash
 * Swings his sword 3 times over his head. Has good range and medium knockback. Up to 17%.

Down Smash
 * Swipes sword from from front to back along the ground, like DTilt. 14% in front, 17% in back.

Forward Throw
 * A simple forward kick. 7%

Back Throw
 * A simple backward Kick. 7%

Up Throw
 * Throws his opponent up a short distance and slashes them upwards. 10%

Down Throw
 * Throws his opponent at the ground and does a downwards stab. 10%

Dash Attack
 * Rolls and then stabs in front of him with good knockback. This attack gives Link invincibility during the first half of the rolling animation. 11%.

Ledge attack
 * Does a half roll and then overhead slash. 8%.